Son of a Tyrant
by fanfictionisahobby
Summary: After she and Christa are separated and she falls into the river, Clementine awakes on shore to see a survivor like her. And just like her, this particular survivor has a rough past. The two will face hardships... their strength will be tested... will they survive? (Sorry horrible summary, please read though). Officially, ClemXOC
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I was not really expecting to update today, but I wanted to throw this idea out there and see what you guys think. If you guys don't like this then I'll take it off, no hard feelings. Also, I'm not trying to steal anyone's ideas. This writing may run parallel to someone else's idea but this one is different. I promise.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

Clementine's eyes fluttered open to see the hard grey stone of a once cleared out path way that led to the river and a fire pit in front of her. On the other side of the burnt out fire pit was a boy. He had thick brown hair and appeared to be two inches shorter than her. He wore a dark green hooded sweater, a pair of blue jeans, and a pair of black tennis shoes. He was asleep in an upward position with his head tilted down. Clementine cringed a bit noticing that the boy was in a very poor position for sleep.

She started to get up but quickly shuttered from the pain of her stomach. She must have hit something while being in the water last night. Her pain gave way to surprise as she saw that she was covered by a blanket. It must be the boy's blanket. She really hated to wake him up but she needed to know what happened last night.

Clementine got up and slowly crawled over to the boy. She lightly shook him and said, "Excuse me, hello?"

The boy woke up and stretched before addressing her, "Sorry, I'm a little tight." The boy remarked.

Clementine nodded and said, "Hi, I hate to just bombard you with questions but… Do you know what happened last night?"

"Yeah, I found you passed out in the river and dragged you ashore." The boy responded and frowned as he continued, "I thought you weren't going to make it. I was really afraid that you would have died from hypothermia."

Clementine stood their shocked at how close to death she must have been. She smiled at the boy and said, "You saved my life. Thank you." Suddenly, she could feel her stomach growl. She clutched it and blushed, "Sorry, I guess I'm really hungry."

"That's fine. I have some food in my backpack." The boy said as he reached for his nearby backpack. He rummaged through it until he found a bag of fruit gummies. "Here, you want to split the bag; they're a little hard and stale but they still taste very good."

Clementine's eyes widened and she started to drool. "Yes, of course!" Clementine exclaimed. The boy smiled and scooted over to give Clementine room. She got on the ground and sat next to the boy and popped a gummy in her mouth. It exploded with flavor, strawberry in particular. She hadn't eaten a gummy in years. Before the apocalypse, Clementine ate healthy food like her parents but every once in a while her parents would treat her with gummies. She ate another and chewed on it slowly to savor the taste. "I haven't had these in years." Clementine remarked happily. The boy smiled at her. Then, realization hits her. "What's your name?"

"My name's Keith." The boy said as he popped a gummy in his mouth. He chewed on it and swallowed the food and asked, "What's yours?"

"I'm Clementine." Clementine responded.

Keith smiled at the girl and continued to eat the bag of gummies.

After the apocalypse, there were few times that Clementine could admit that she felt relatively safe but Keith's campsite was warm and inviting for some reason. She enjoyed his company and the two soon finished the bag of gummies and Keith started to pack up. He rolled the blanket up, placed it in his backpack, and zipped his backpack.

The two kids, then, went up to a broken up boardwalk which was out of reach for both. Keith looked at the crumbled up walkway and examined it. After a couple minutes of pacing around and examining it, he sighed and said, "There's no other way. I'll have to give you a boost."

Clementine nodded and Keith got underneath the walkway. He got down on one knee and brought the other close to his chest. His hands were cupped and he awaited for Clementine. She hesitantly walked to him and put one foot into his cupped hands. He grunted and brought her up the walkway. She grabbed onto a piece of wood and grunted as she hauled herself up.

She looked down to Keith and said, "Glad that's over."

"Sorry." Keith apologized. "If there was another way, I would have taken it. Okay, I'm next; I'm going to need you to grab my hand. Keep in mind, I'm short so you will have extend your arm."

Clementine giggled at his criticism toward his own body and extended her arm as much as possible. "Okay. Can you reach?" Clementine asked.

"Only one way to find out." Keith said as he jumped up and grabbed onto Clementine's hand. She grunted as she struggled to bring Keith up but eventually got him up onto the boardwalk

"You know Keith? I was actually very short when everything happened." Clementine said.

"Yeah, rub it in." Keith said jokingly. "I'll beat you in height one day."

The two chuckled and eventually got up and walked up a set of stairs that led to a clearing. Clementine and Keith looked over at the clearing and their eyes widened. The clearing had a couple of graves in the far left of the clearing, while on the far right there was a dead walker with a flagpole sticking out of its skull.

Clementine then realized, Christa. She needed to find Christa. "Christa are you there?"

Keith looked at her raising his eyebrow and asked, "Who's Christa?"

Clementine looked to him and said, "Christa is the woman who is taking care of me."

Keith nodded understandingly and the two split up to try and find her. Neither had any luck, and Keith said, "Maybe she's still out there, just not here. We'll keep an eye out for her."

Clementine nodded appreciatively and they started to walk down a trail. Both of the kids walked on somewhat terrified. Clementine held her arms and Keith kept his right arm over a large pocket knife that was clipped to his belt. The trees didn't help with the atmosphere as they stood over the two with an intimidating look. The two noticed a fallen tree on the path. Clementine struggled slightly over it but it was Keith who had the hardest time. "Grr…I hate being short." Keith growled as he struggled to get over the tree. Clementine suppressed her laughter with her hand as Keith continued to crawl his way up the fallen tree trunk. Keith huffed and jumped off the tree and stuck the landing.

The two advanced down the road still concentrated on the trees until a flock of crows came out of nowhere. The two gasped and took a couple of seconds to get their bearing. They kept going until they heard a rustle from the nearby bushes. Clementine gasped as Keith went into action and grabbed his pocket knife. He opened the blade up and slowly crept toward the bushes.

There he saw a dog sniffing the ground for something. His face went from worry to happiness in a matter of seconds. "Hi boy!" Keith exclaimed. The dog growled at him and Keith started to back away.

"What is it?" Clementine asked.

"It's a dog." Keith replied with a huge grin. Keith focused his attention to the dog. "It's okay, boy, it's okay…" Dog stopped growling and barked. Clementine slowly rounded the corner and the dog quickly turned back to being defensive. Clementine backed away until she felt Keith's arm around her shoulder and talked to the dog, "It's okay, boy, this is my friend."

Clementine got down and checked the dog's collar and said, "You're name's Sam." The dog barked happily but suddenly turned his head toward the other direction and walked down the trail. "What's he doing?" Clementine asked.

"Something other than us must be in his territory." Keith remarked. Clementine turned to him with a questioning look and Keith explained, "I had a dog once."

Suddenly, the dog stopped sniffing and started to run in a barking frenzy. "Hey wait, what'd you find, boy?" Clementine asked.

The two kids ran after the dog. He stopped at an abandoned campsite and sniffed around. The campsite was completely destroyed. Pots, pans, and empty food cans littered the area. One of the tents was burnt to a crisp while the other laid in shatter pieces. And a rusted out van sat near the edge of camp.

"I know this place looks bad but we should try to find some food." Keith said.

"Okay." Clementine nodded and the two spit up. Keith carefully checked the shattered up tent while Clementine looked into the van. Neither was having much success until Keith spotted something.

"Hey, Clementine look, a Frisbee." Keith said and he got the attention of the girl. She exited the van and went to Keith who was holding the Frisbee, but she wasn't the only one. Sam went over and waged his tail and stuck his tongue out excitedly. "Hey you want to play?" Keith asked the dog. The dog barked in response and Keith threw the Frisbee. The dog ran along and caught it while it was in midair. "Good boy, can you bring it back over?" Keith praised. The dog did so and awaited for another throw. Keith handed the Frisbee to Clementine and said, "Here, you have a go at it."

Clementine smiled and said, "Thanks." She then looked at Sam and said, "Okay boy, go get it." She threw the disc and Sam caught it again.

Sam brought the disc back to the two children and they took turns until Keith threw it too far and it landed in the bushes. Sam's ears went down and Keith looked to Clementine sadly and said, "I'm sorry." He then looked down at his arms which weren't too muscular looking and continued, "I guess I don't know my own strength anymore."

"It's okay." Clementine said happily, "It was fun while it lasted. I know that this has been the most fun I've had in a long time."

Keith smiled at her and continued with a serious look. "Well, I was unsuccessful. What about you?"

"I couldn't find anything." Clementine said.

"Darn!" Keith grumbled. He looked up and said, "Well there is one place we haven't looked."

Clementine looked up to where he was looking at and cringed. It was the trashcan which had flies swarming all over it. Keith approached the object while he pulled the sleeves of his hooded sweater up. He hesitated for a minute but pushed hands through the garbage and hoped to find something. Finally, he found a can of unopened bean.

"Jackpot!" Keith exclaimed happily. Clementine smiled as Keith pulled out his prize.

They both went over to a log which was in front of a burnt-out campfire. Keith retrieved his pocket knife and was about to stab into the can until he heard a very familiar gurgled groan. He lost all concentration in the can and slowly walked to the source of the groaning growling. Clementine followed behind and they went to see a walker tied up to a tree.

Keith's eyes widened and Clementine noticed, "Are you okay? Did you know this guy?"

Keith shook his head to get out of his daze and stuttered, "Uh…no, I….I'm just…shocked. I mean…whoever did this must have had a grudge against this guy."

"What makes you say that?" Clementine asked.

Keith pointed to the ropes and continued, "Someone tied him up. There's no way he could have tied himself up."

"Who do you think did this?" Clementine asked.

"I'm not sure but I don't want to find out." Keith said as he got up and brought his pocket knife up. The walker snarled and growled but only for a few seconds. Keith raised his pocket knife and stabbed the walker in the skull, killing the undead creature. He then pulled it out and then the red-handled pocket knife that was sticking out of the arm of the walker. He cleaned the knife on the ground and handed it to Clementine. "Here, that way, you and I are armed." Clementine nodded and took the knife.

The two went back over to the log and Keith stabbed the can of beans open. He looked inside the can and saw that the beans weren't rotten. He smiled and tilted can to Clementine, "Here, you first." Clementine smiled appreciatively and cupped her hands. Keith poured some of the beans into her hands and then into his. The two enjoyed their meal until Sam came up whining. "How can I say no to a face like that?" Keith said as he offered his hand to Sam.

Sam snapped at the food and gulfed it down in one bit; however, he wasn't satisfied and snapped the can out Keith's reach.

"Hey, don't eat it all." Clementine said as she grabbed the can from the dog. Sam immediately growled angrily and bit down on the girl's arm and brought her to the ground. The dog lunged for her but Clementine used her arm to keep the dog at a distance.

"Clem!" Keith exclaimed. He ran over and tried to pry the dog off Clementine without much luck. Frustrated, Keith brought out his pocket knife and stabbed it into the dog's skull. The dog sent out loud yelp before it went limp and Keith opened its jaw so Clementine could get her arm out. Keith went over to Clementine and said, "Are you alright?"

"Keith, you…you just killed a dog." Clementine said surprised by Keith's actions.

Keith looked down ashamed that he had to but quickly became frightened. "Clementine, your arm…"

Clementine reached for her arm and cringed as she felt the sting of the bite. They looked at each other for a couple of seconds until Keith said, "I-I don't have any medical supplies on me." He then sighed, "Well, I hate to say it but we're going to have to keep moving until we can find some medical supplies and then I could stitch up your arm."

Clementine nodded and Keith helped her up. Keith then approached the dog's corpse and retrieved his pocket knife. The two then went down the path away from the dead dog.

As Keith continued down the path, Clementine started to fall behind and eventually stopped altogether to lay down next to a rock. Keith looked back to see her slouched against the rock and ran up to her and asked, "Clementine, are you okay?"

Clementine only groaned in response. Keith put his hand on her forehead and said, "You got a bit of a fever. That dog must have been carrying something." Suddenly, a twig snapped and a groan accompanied it. Both children perked up and saw a walker a few trees ahead of them. More growling and groaning came from the right and behind. "Shit. We got to move." Keith said as he helped Clementine to her feet. She was still exhausted and partially slumped on Keith. In turn, Keith supported the girl while keeping his right arm around her back.

Clementine grew weaker with each step until Keith was practically carrying her. "Clem, I can't carry you." Keith said before a walker knocked them both down. Another walker came in from the right and was going to attack Clementine, while the other walker that knocked the two children down tried to chomp down on Keith's neck. Keith struggled with the walker and saw that Clementine was struggling to get up. He yelled to get his adrenaline pumping but even with the extra strength, he could only hold the walker back for so long.

Meanwhile, the other walker got on top of Clementine and was about to bite down on her leg when an arrow landed into the walker's skull. Two men came into view. One was armed with a machete and the other was older and armed with a crossbow. The older man reloaded as the other man noticed Keith struggling and sliced the walker's head off. The one armed with a crossbow aimed and shot another walker as the man armed with the machete helped get the walker off and helped Keith up.

The man armed with the crossbow reloaded and shot another walker that was coming towards them. "I'm out." The man said to his friend. "Grab her and let's go."

The man armed with the machete said, "Come on kid." He then got lower to the ground and picked Clementine up and looked to Keith. "Try to keep up with us." The two then darted deeper into the woods with Keith following close behind.

They finally stopped and the older man with the crossbow huffed, "I think we lost them."

The younger man looked behind and looked back to his older compatriot. "Yeah we're good." The younger man replied. The two then looked down to Clementine as she seemed to relax. "Hey kid, you alright?"

"I'm fine… just let me go." Clementine said as she struggled out of the man's grip.

"Clem, it's alright." Keith said. "They saved us back there."

"Yeah, kid, you were barely able to crawl away from that lurker." The man that was carrying her said. "You're in bad shape, kid." The man then started to walk again and Keith walked alongside him to keep Clementine calm.

"What are you two doing out here?" The older man asked. "Where are the people you are with?"

"Yeah, because there's no way you two have survived this long on your own."

"I was with my friend when we were attacked." Clementine said.

"I found Clementine in the river and brought her to shore." Keith said.

"Wait, who attacked you?" The man asked.

"I don't know. They probably wanted the food we had. We were cooking some kind of weasel." Clementine replied.

"They attacked you for a weasel? Man that's low." The man said disappointedly. "Well anyway, my name's Luke and this here is Pete." The man motioned to the older man. "And I'm guessing your name is Clementine." Clementine nodded in response and Luke looked to Keith. "What's your name?" Luke asked.

"Blake." Keith lied. Clementine looked at him perplexedly but Keith stared back to the road and avoided her stare.

"Well it's nice to meet you both." Luke said and he looked down at Clementine. "Pete and I are going to take you back to our cabin. You look like you could use some-" Luke then stopped himself as he looked down at the bite on Clementine's arm and he jumped back. "Oh shit!" Luke exclaimed as he dropped her.

Clementine grunted when she hit the ground and Pete looked at Luke questioningly, "What, what is it?"

"She's- She's been bit man." Luke said. He began to pace back and forth exclaiming, "Shit, shit! What are we going to do?"

"No, it was a dog." Clementine said.

"I didn't see a dog, Clementine." Pete said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Come on kid! We saw you with all of those lurkers back there." Luke said as he continued to panic.

"No it's true. It was a dog. I-I had to kill the dog with my pocket knife to prevent it from hurting her." Keith said.

"You what?" Luke exclaimed.

"Pease just look at her arm. She's telling you the truth." Keith pleaded with the two men.

"Oh right, and have her bite down on Pete's neck." Luke argued.

"My neck? Why am I the one?" Pete asked.

"Because man, I don't know a dog bite, from a lurker bite, from a mosquito bite." Luke exclaimed.

Pete looked down at Clementine who sat there hoping that the men would believe her. Her eyes turned to Pete and widened like sad eyes. Pete huffed, "Alright, let's take a look."

"Hey man watch yourself." Luke said. Clementine glared at Luke in response and he said, "Hey don't look at me like that. You're the one who's bit here." He then turned around to avoid her stare.

Pete rolled up Clem's sleeve and examined the wound, "See."

"Is it as they say?" Luke asked.

"Hm… I don't know. It could be dog." Pete said. "We'll take her to Carlos and he can have a better look."

Luke scowled and said, "Nick ain't going to like this, not after-"

"You don't need to remind me of that, boy!" Pete shot back.

Luke lost his scowl and apologized, "Yes sir. Sorry sir." Pete put a comforting hand on his shoulder and nodded toward a structure in the distance. The structure was a cabin. The two men walked toward the structure as Keith helped Clementine up.

"Why did you lie about your name?" Clementine whispered.

Keith looked down sadly and said, "Some things are just not that simple anymore."

"Hey, come on you two, keep up." Luke said.

"Come on." Keith said and Clementine followed. However, her pace was slow and she struggled to keep walking.

Pete looked behind and asked, "Clementine, are you feeling alright?" Pete asked.

Luke and Keith turned around to the girl and she responded, "I'm fine… I'm just… tired…"

"Well you better be fine because I ain't carrying you with that bite on your arm." Luke said.

"What is with you?" Keith snapped. "You went from being friendly and kind to being an asshole."

"Hey, man, she's bit." Luke shot back.

"Will you two settle down?" Pete said.

Suddenly, Keith turned around just in time to see Clementine's eyes roll back and her body began to slump. He, immediately, ran to her as Luke exclaimed, "Ah shit." Thanks to Keith's quick reflexes, he was able to catch Clementine before she hit the ground. He grunted as he lifted her up and allowed her to lean against him but he struggled. Pete and Luke walked up to him.

He turned around and glare at the two men, "Are you two going to help me or what?" Keith asked.

"What? So we can get bit?" Luke inquired. "Pass."

"Well I can't carry her." Keith shot back. "She's too tall."

"Here, I'll take over." Pete offered and he took the girl from Keith and he looked to Pete gratefully. "Come on let's go to the cabin." Pete said and the three went to the said structure.

"You better be right about your friend being bit by a dog." Luke scolded Keith. "I don't appreciate being lied to."

"I promise, she was bit by a dog." Keith said in an innocent voice.

Luke sighed feeling bad for snapping at Keith and said, "Blake, I'm sorry about earlier. I mean I'm... we have had a bad experience and it just hasn't been easy to move on from it."

"It's okay." Keith replied. "I'm sorry too." Luke smiled to the young boy as he, Pete and Keith exited the woods.

"I'm going to go get Carlos." Luke said and he ran into the house.

Suddenly two men and a woman came out of the house as Luke went in.

"What the f*** Luke? What's going on?" A man that was around Luke's age exclaimed. There were then some arguing as the pregnant woman approached Pete and Keith. Keith looked down sadly and sighed. He knew that he was about to receive hell.

"What the f*** is this?" The woman, Rebecca, exclaimed.

"Now hold up Rebecca." Pete said.

"You brought the f****** enemy to our f****** front doorstep!" Rebecca shouted as Nick and Alvin approached them.

"What are you talking about, Rebecca?" Pete asked.

"Rebecca please! I need your help!" Keith pleaded.

"My help? You must be out of your mind coming here, you little shit." Rebecca said coldly.

"Rebecca, he's just a boy." Pete argued. "He said his name is Blake."

"Oh so you f****** lied to him." Rebecca said angrily to Keith and she gestured to Pete.

"You know him?" Pete asked Rebecca.

"I'm sorry but I knew if I told you the truth then you wouldn't have helped me or my friend. If anything you would have shot me." Keith apologized.

"What is your name, then?" Nick inquired threateningly with his hunting rifle.

He took a while to respond and said, "It's Keith."

Nick and Pete looked at each other and shrugged. The name had no relevance to them. "Oh for f*** sakes, Keith Blake Carver!" Rebecca exclaimed to the two men. "He's Carver's son!"

Both men were surprised and looked to the boy. All four group member's eyes were on Keith now as Nick raised his hunting rifle. There wasn't much Keith could do but stand there looking down to the ground.

…**To be continued.**

**A/N: It'll be a while till I can update again but like I said, I just wanted to get my idea out there.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I want to thank everyone for their reviews on the first chapter. Sorry, I'm not usually a review freak, but in the last Walking Dead fanfiction, I did kind of got mixed results. I had no idea if you guys liked it or hated it. Either way, I'll try not to butcher this fanfiction.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own**_**The Walking Dead**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

"I need a doc-" A voice said and Nick jumped. With his finger pressed against the trigger, he fired and grazed Keith in the shoulder. He yelped in pain and the impact forced him to the ground. "Keith!" Clementine exclaimed as her eyes widened in horror as he laid on the ground clutching his arm and whimpered in pain.

"Dammit boy!" Pete scolded Nick. "Why'd you do that for?" He then wrestled the gun away from his nephew's grasp.

"Hey, she surprised me. It's not my fault." Nick shot back.

The door to the cabin swung open and Luke exclaimed, "Whoa, whoa! What the f***!" He then ran towards the group.

"You idiot! Every lurker for five miles probably heard that." Rebecca scolded Nick.

"Hey, you're the one who wanted that dumb f*** dead." Nick replied as he gestured to Keith. Meanwhile, Keith hissed and whimpered in pain.

"Clementine, Blake, are you both alright?" Luke asked. He then saw Keith on the ground and said, "Nick, you asshole! You shot Blake!"

"Luke, his name is not Blake." Rebecca said. "It's Keith."

"Wait, Keith? Like Keith Carver?" Luke inquired.

"F****** duh." Rebecca shot back.

"Please, we need a doctor." Clementine begged the group.

"I don't think so." Rebecca snorted. "You're f***** lying to us about a dog biting you and that brat will only tell Bill where we're at."

Carlos approached Clementine and said to the group, "Let me take a look at her arm."

Clementine was unsure and looked to Luke who said, "It's alright. He's a doctor." Luke then walked up to Keith and helped him up as he grunted in pain.

"Luke, get the f*** away from him." Nick snapped.

"Look, I don't care if he is Carver's son. That doesn't mean that he is some scum of the earth like his old man." Luke argued. "He saved that girl, Clementine, from drowning."

"He also saved me from dying from hypothermia." Clementine said. She then cringed as Carlos continued to examine her arm.

"Whatever it was, it got you good." Carlos said.

Nick glared at Clementine and went up to Luke, "This isn't how we do things man. When you're bit you get put down. End of story! I'm not going through this again!"

"No one's suggesting that." Luke said and he raised his arms up in surrender.

"We could take her arm off." Pete suggested. Clementine gasped but Pete continued and said, "I know that worked for a cousin down in Ainsworth."

"It won't do any good." Rebecca said. "You'll just be making it worse for the girl."

"Yeah, and besides, no one is going to volunteer to do that." Nick exclaimed.

"I would if it meant saving her life." Pete said.

"You don't want to do something you'll regret. Better to be sure right?" Clementine stated.

Pete smiled and instantly changed his mind, "Come on, she weighs as much as a sack of flour. We can take her if it comes to that?"

"And what about him?" Nick said as he glared to Keith.

"He's injured. We got to help him." Pete said.

"The hell we will." Rebecca snorted back.

"You and I are in the same boat." Keith said to Rebecca. "Carver's trying to hunt me down, too."

"That's f******* bullshit." Nick snapped at Keith.

"Who are they?" A young girl asked from the porch door. She wore a pair of red thick rimmed glasses with a blue jacket, jeans and black boats.

"Sarah, what did I say? Stay inside." Carlos said. The girl nodded and she retreated back into the house.

"I don't mean to be any trouble." Clementine said. "I just want to clean the wound and then we're gone. You'll never see us again."

"No way! Keith ain't going with you, if anything we should just f****** shoot him!" Nick exclaimed.

"Nick!" Pete scolded the man.

"No!" Clementine exclaimed.

Carlos got up and said, "We aren't doing anything. They'll both stay in the shed tonight. If she's alive in the morning, I'll fix her wound. We'll hold a meeting on what to do with Keith."

"But my arm… it needs cleaned, stitched and bandaged." Clementine said.

"The girl is in bad shape Carlos." Luke said.

"We have all that stuff inside the cabin. We should probably get by with…" Alvin said but he was then interrupted by Rebecca. "Alvin please."

"But yeah, we can't do nothing." Alvin finished hastily.

"I'm not wasting supplies on a lurker bite. If it turns out that you are telling the truth, then I'll clean it and stitch it for you in the morning." Carlos said. He then looked over to Keith and said, "And I don't want you anywhere near my daughter."

"But…" Clementine said. However, Carlos walked away from the two.

"I'm sorry but that's about the best that you're going to get." Luke said.

Nick went up to retrieve his rifle and Pete said, "Finger off the trigger son and try not to shoot anyone this time."

"I'm not your son." Nick snapped and he took the rifle from his uncle.

"Come on man, don't be like that." Luke criticized Nick.

"Don't worry about it." Pete said. "He has his mom's temper."

"Come on." Nick said and gestured the two children and to the shed with his rifle.

They went toward it as Rebecca said, "This is a waste of time; you'll see. And when it happens, I'm not going to be the one cleaning it up."

"Keith are you going to be okay?" Clementine asked.

"The shot only grazed me but still I'm worried that it's going to get infected. If anything, I'm more worried about you. That bite doesn't look good." Keith replied.

"Why did you lie to me and Pete back there?" Luke inquired as he crossed his arms over his chest angrily.

"I'm sorry but I knew if I told you who I really was, I would have gotten shot." Keith said.

"You don't know that." Luke snapped.

"Oh really? Because I just got shot five minutes ago." Keith said with a glare.

Luke sighed knowing that Keith was right and his arms fell to his side. "My arm really hurts." Clementine whined. She couldn't help it; the pain was throbbing and it didn't help having someone mess with it and didn't bother to do anything.

"I don't know what to do for you. Just try to hold out till morning." Luke replied. They finally arrived to the shed and Luke opened up the door. Inside, the shed was almost empty, with the exception of a tacklebox, a workbench, an anchor, and some lumber.

Both Keith and Clementine hesitated to enter the shed until Nick got behind them and gestured them to get in. Having no choice, Clementine and Keith obliged and went into the shed. Luke closed the doors and an argument could be heard outside the door. "Why are we doing this? It's so dumb." Nick inquired.

"Because it's safer this way and we want to be sure." Luke replied.

"You know that little shit is working for Carver?" Rebecca inquired angrily.

"We don't know anything yet." Luke replied.

"Luke you idiot." Rebecca exclaimed. "He's deceiving you and you're falling for it…" The conversation soon faded leaving both children in silence.

Keith sat down and leaned against some of the lumber while using his right hand to press against his wounded arm. Clementine crossed her arms and asked, "Who's Carver?"

Keith didn't respond; he instead looked to the wall and sighed. "Keith, I can't help you if you don't tell me who this Carver guy is. I heard that he is your dad but… that's all I know."

It was a long minute until Keith replied, "Bill was my dad, but then when the apocalypse happened… he changed. He started to beat me and mom all the time. One day, my mom told him that she wanted nothing to do with him and she started to date this guy named Derrick. He was nice and cared about me. More importantly, he made mom really happy, which made me happy. I actually had a family again until one day, mom, Derrick, Bill, Troy, and I went foraging…" Keith started to tear up but continued, "Troy shot Derrick from behind, killing him instantly. Bill then grabbed my mom from behind and…" Keith started to sob as the painful memories ran through his head. "…and let a walker chomp down on her. She yelled for me to run and I did. Troy was close behind but I out-maneuvered him. I know what happens when you get bit. There was no hope for her… My dad killed my mom…"

Clementine got down in front of him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry that happened to you." Clementine said sadly

Keith all at once looked up tearfully to the girl and hugged her. He cried in her shoulder as Clementine shushed him and rocked him comfortingly. After a while, Keith separated from her and said, "I'm sorry, I know I need to get stronger. I guess I never really mourned for my mom or Derrick until now."

"It's alright." Clementine replied. "Keith, we need to get out of here and treat our wounds." Clementine said as she regained her focus. "I'm going to need your help."

Keith nodded and replied, "I'm not sure how much help I'll be but I'll do my best." Keith then got up.

The first thing Clementine checked was the tacklebox to find anything. All she could find was fishing line. She took a bit of and cuts it with her knife. Keith then eyed something. He went over to a portion of the wall that was covered up by the tacklebox. "What is it?" Clementine asked.

Keith knocked on a piece of wood and replied, "This part's corroded." Keith said happily. "If we had a hammer, we could take the nails out of the plank and kick this corroded wood then we are out of this shed."

"Really?" Clementine asked excitedly.

Keith nodded and said, "Yeah, but we need something to remove those nails."

The two then looked around until Clementine eyed the handle of a hammer on the upper shelf. "I think I found that hammer." Clementine said and she gestured to the top shelf.

"Awesome." Keith said. He then got down and opened up his backpack. He rummaged through it for a couple of seconds until he brought out a modern slingshot and Clementine looked at him questioningly. "You might want to get behind me." Keith said. Clementine obliged as Keith brought the sling back with a pellet. He then fired the slingshot and the pellet hit the hammer causing it to fall on the ground.

"Whoa." Clementine said.

"Yeah, not just a children's toy." Keith said and he put the slingshot away.

Clementine picked up the hammer and went to the wooden plank. Using her leverage, she was able to pry the nails off of the plank and the plank fell. Keith came back and he kicked the wood with his foot and it fell apart. The two smiled at each other and Keith crawled out first, followed by Clementine.

Keith helped Clementine up and Clementine said, "They have a doctor… he's got to have stuff for stitches…" Clementine then noticed how bloody Keith's hand was. It was from the gunshot wound from earlier. "We need to find stitches for your arm too."

"Yeah." Keith said as he observed his hand.

The two then approached the house. "There's probably a weak spot somewhere around the house. Let's look for that." Keith said.

"Okay." Clementine replied and they went past the porch and around the side but stopped mid-way. A piece of plywood covered a portion of the lattice. Keith yanked on it and it revealed that nails were holding the plywood in place and not screws. He nodded to Clementine and she took the hammer's spike and undid the nails. Keith pushed the plywood aside and Clementine crawled into the hole of the lattice. Keith followed her and they crept along underneath the house. "House meeting in five minutes." Someone said from within the house. Most likely Carlos.

"That's… that's great." Alvin complained.

"It won't take long. There's a few things we need to discuss." Carlos replied.

"Fine." Alvin said.

Clementine then stopped and looked up to a trap door. Keith looked up and smiled. He got out his pocket knife and placed it between the mechanism and the lock. After he struggled for a couple of seconds, he finally broke the lock. "Got it." Keith said as he closed up the pocket knife and opened the trap door. He could hear the adults arguing as he helped Clementine up into the room but ignored them until their voices were muffled. Keith waited until he couldn't hear anyone behind the door and then he opened the door. He walked out and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw no one. He motioned Clementine to come and the two slowly crept across the living room maneuvering around the two sofas and chair. They then quietly walked up the stairs. They noticed a door on the right and opened it. Inside was the girl from earlier.

Both children were horrified now that they were spotted. Clementine made the universal symbol to stay quiet to the girl. "You're not supposed to be in here." The girl said.

"Can you help us?" Keith asked as he entered the room quietly with Clementine close behind. She closed the door quietly and looked to the girl.

"Please, we need your help." Clementine added.

"I'm not supposed to talk to you. My dad can't know." The girl said.

Clementine eyed an open book on the girl's bed and asked, "What are you reading?"

"A book." The girl replied.

"What book? I like books." Clementine said. Keith decided to not speak up. He figured that Clementine's kind approach would help them rather than his.

"It's called the Guurgles. It's about trans-dimensional body snatchers." Sarah replied.

"That's so cool." Keith said. Sarah jumped a bit when he spoke up. "It's alright. We're not going to hurt you."

"Your dad is still looking for us." The girl said.

"I know but I'm not him. He-" Keith tried to explain but the girl interrupted him.

"I still don't trust you." Keith looked down sadly and allowed Clementine to talk to the girl. The girl looked to Clementine's arm and saw the blood patch on her sleeve. "What happened to you?"

"A dog bit me." Clementine said.

"Sounds scary… I bet it hurts." The girl said. She then noticed something dripping from Keith's hand. Her eyes widened and she asked, "Did the dog bite you too?"

"No, Nick did this." Keith said. The girl jumped not knowing that Nick was capable of shooting someone as young as Keith.

"Why would he do that?" The girl asked.

Keith was going to speak but Clementine spoke first. "It's my fault. I surprised Nick and Keith got shot because of it."

"It's not your fault." Keith said comfortingly. "It's Nick's. He always was reckless. His reckless actions have gotten a lot of people killed. He has probably killed more people than walkers at this point just because of his recklessness."

"Listen, I could die if I don't take care of this wound." Clementine said to the girl as she gestured to her arm. "Do you understand?" The girl looked down sadly but nodded in confirmation as a sign that she understood. "I need something to clean it with and then some medical wrap. Do you have something like that?"

"Yeah, I do. It's with the rest of my medical supplies." The girl replied. She looked over to Keith and shook her head. "I…I don't know if I should help you though."

"But if you don't then Clementine might die…" Keith argued.

"Please." Clementine begged as she sent a set of sad eyes towards the girl.

The girl looked into Clementine's eyes and gave in. She couldn't say no to that expression. "Okay, I'll help you, but please don't tell my dad. He'll never forgive me otherwise."

"I promise, if we get caught that I'll take full responsibility." Keith said.

The girl's expression toward Keith changed as she went from being suspicious and frightful to kind and relaxed. She realized that she was talking to a friend, not the enemy. "Thanks Keith." The girl said.

"My name's Sarah." The girl said.

"I'm Clementine." Clementine introduced herself.

"I would introduce myself, but you already know who I am." Keith said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Sarah nodded and looked to Clementine and said, "We're friends, right? We can be best friends. I haven't met another girl my age since way before. It's kind of hard being the only girl in here. I mean Rebecca is a girl but that's it and she's older."

"Yeah we can be friends." Clementine said.

"Me too." Keith commented.

"Promise?" Sarah inquired. "This is really important to me."

"Yeah, I mean it." Keith said.

"I promise." Clementine added with a nod.

"Me too." Sarah said and she brought up her arm with her pinky finger extended. "Pinky swear."

"Uh… that's more of a girl's thing… but alright." Keith commented as he wrapped his pinky around Sarah's and shook it.

Clementine followed as Sarah said, "A pinky swear is forever." Clementine returned to griping her injured arm as Keith looked to her worriedly. "I'll see if I can find the stuff my dad uses when I get a cut." Sarah said and she went over to the other side of the bed and checked the nightstand drawer. She returned to Keith and Clementine with a bottle of disinfectant and some gauze medical tape. "I think this is it."

"That'll work." Keith said as he took the two item and placed in his backpack.

"You can't do it here though. Someone will find you." Sarah said.

"Don't worry; we won't." Clementine said and she and Keith opened the door slowly. They then looked around the hall. After seeing that the hall was clear, the two then walked across it to another room as Clementine said, "Thanks Sarah." Sarah shushed her in response not wanting Carlos or any of the other cabin members finding out what she did for the two.

They walked into what appeared to be a bathroom and Keith whispered. "They got to have something in that medical cabinet." Clementine nodded and opened it. She then saw a needle and took it out to examine it.

"It looks clean." Clementine commented.

"That'll work." Keith said.

Clementine and Keith were about to leave when Clementine stopped herself from turning the doorknob. She could hear footsteps coming up the stairs and pressed her ear against the door. Her eyes widened when she could Rebecca grumbling, "That man sometimes, I swear!"

Keith's eyes widened as well and Clementine started to hyperventilate. Keith looked to the bath tub and quickly dragged Clementine inside of it and closed the curtains. They both squatted down as Keith looked between the curtains to see Rebecca open the door.

She held her head stressfully and eventually she relaxed. Keith watched her as she went to the sink and washed her face. "I just need to have this baby… Please just let this baby be okay and let it be his." Both children looked at each other with surprised expressions as Rebecca exited the room. Keith waited for a couple of seconds before he nodded as a signal to come out of the bath tub. Keith looked to her and said, "That was close."

"Yeah." Clementine nodded. She looked to the bath tub and said, "I wish I could use this again. I probably smell awful right now." She then looked to Keith for confirmation.

"You smell fine." Keith said. "I'm the one who smells like washed-up road kill."

Clementine chuckled at the analogy and then said, "We have everything we need. Let's get back to the shed."

Keith nodded and replied, "Okay, I can help you with stitching up the wound." Clementine nodded and the two headed back to the shed. Clementine laid out the obtained supplies from the house as Keith looked through his backpack and pulled out an electric lantern.

He then turned it on and Clementine looked away until her eyes could adjust to the blinding light of the electric lantern. "You know how to do this right?" Clementine asked.

"Uh… yeah, kind of. I helped Carlos a couple times back at the Howe's Warehouse and I have stitched up a couple of my own wounds…" Keith trailed off as he remembered the painful set of experiences.

Clementine then rolled up her sleeve and said, "This is going to suck."

"I'm not going to sugar coat, yes it is." Keith said as he untwisted the top of the disinfectant. "Okay." Keith said. He then started to tilt the bottle. "I'll go as fast as I can." Clementine was speechless and somewhat nervous as she closed her eyes and awaited for the pain of the disinfectant. Keith grabbed her arm and kept one hand on it tightly so Clementine couldn't retract and said, "Okay pain city, here we come." He then tilted the disinfectant and the contents poured onto Clementine's arm.

She gasped and then yelled in pain. Tears started to form in her eyes and Keith looked at her worriedly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry; are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Clementine said as she tried to get her bearings straight. "Okay time for the worst part."

Keith placed the cap back on the disinfectant and started to thread the needle. He struggled at first and said, "I never was good at sewing. I did a better job of breaking things and getting in trouble for it."

Clementine giggled in response and said, "I can't see you getting in trouble."

"Oh trust me, I was a master at getting in trouble before all of this. Probably the worst thing I ever did was hit this antique vase that my mom liked. I was only six at the time but oh boy! Mom was furious. She paddled me so hard, I think my butt was red for two days. And of course, I was grounded for a week." Keith said as he continued to thread the needle.

"What she ground you from?" Clementine asked genuinely curious.

Keith sighed and he looked up from trying to thread the needle and said, "Okay don't laugh but she grounded me from drawing and playing basketball. I could live without playing basketball but drawing was one of my favorite things to do." Keith then went back to trying to thread the needle and said, "I could spend hours on one drawing. My dad hated that I spent so much time drawing but I couldn't help it. I would just lose myself in it; go into a new world…"

"I liked to draw too." Clementine stated happily. "After everything happened, this boy and I would always draw, granted it was the only thing we could do without getting into trouble but I still enjoyed it. Along with drawing, he would always talk about something called Robosaurus."

"I watched that before everything happened. It was kind of stupid." Keith said and he then smirked as he recalled Clementine's own words of a boy. "A boy huh? I bet you liked him."

"What? No!" Clementine exclaimed. "I was too young at the time. I was only eight."

"You're never too young to like someone." Keith stated and he started to blush. "I mean I've only met you and I like you."

Clementine's eyes widened and she started to blush as well which easily indicated that she liked Keith equally. The two remained in silence for a couple of seconds as Keith's shaky hands were unsuccessful in threading the needle until a stroke of luck occurred where it was finally through. He tied off the knot and looked to Clementine and asked, "You ready?"

Clementine shook her head. "Not really."

Keith placed his hand on her arm to prevent it from moving and slowly brought the needle closer to her arm and said, "I hate causing pain, especially towards someone I care about."

"Don't think of it that way. Just think of it as helping me." Clementine said.

Keith looked to Clementine and nodded. "Okay; I'll go as fast as I can." Keith said and he started to push the needle through. Clementine yelled in pain as Keith kept going. "I'm sorry; I'm sorry!" Keith exclaimed over Clementine's pained screams. He inserted the needle through her skin a couple more times to make sure the stitching would hold, all the while apologizing as Clementine whimpered in pain.

Keith finally finished and tied off the thread. Clementine panted heavily as tears fell from her eyes. She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt as Keith looked to her sadly, "I'm sorry, I went as fast as I could."

Clementine looked up and smiled, despite the searing pain in her arm. "No, I'm glad you helped me. Thank you Keith." Clementine huffed. She finally caught her breathe and stood up-right.

Keith smiled back and said, "Let's wrap that arm up and then-" He couldn't finish his sentence as Clementine suddenly fell, however she grabbed onto the workbench to avoid falling to the ground. She yelped from surprise as a walker held onto right foot…

…**To be continued.**

**A/N: Sorry, cliffhanger… oh well, gives you something to look forward to.**

***Explanation***

**Okay, there is a little confusion about why Rebecca and Carlos know who Keith is but none of the other cabin members don't. So here is the explanation; the last thing I want to do is confuse you guys through this FanFiction. The main reason why no one else knew except for Rebecca and Carlos was because they never met Keith in the community. Keith was almost always with Erin, his mother. He was almost always in the background doing whatever Bill wanted him to do. Everyone knew his mother, but they didn't know who Keith was because he would spend most of his time either getting beaten by Bill, drawing, or helping Carlos. Carlos knew who he was since Keith did help Carlos in the medical station at Howe's. Lastly, Rebecca... she knew him from being with Bill.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

…Keith was shocked to see the walker get in the shed as the corroded wood crumbled against its undead body. It quickly pulled Clementine to the ground and climbed on top of her as she kept it at a distance with her legs, but her strength was failing. A combination of hunger and exhaustion left her with minimal strength, but thankfully, Keith regained his focus and charged at the walker with his pocket knife in hand. He stabbed it at the top of the head as the doors to the shed were opened. "Holy shit!" Luke said.

"What the…?" Alvin exclaimed. Keith grunted as he finished the stab into a slash, relinquishing any of his remaining strength. He panted as all of the adults looked to him and Clementine, who got up from the walker's attack.

"What the f***? How did it get in there?" Alvin inquired.

"The little girl and boy are tough as nails." Pete commented.

"Are you both alright?" Luke asked concerned.

Clementine built a scowl which surprised Keith. The girl was always kind and reasonable, but this time, her hazel eyes shot daggers at the group and said, "I am still. NOT. Bitten. I never was. And you left us out here to die." Keith nodded in agreement as the group members stood feeling uncomfortable and remorseful with the exception of Rebecca who crossed her arms over her chest and returned the glare.

Luke looked down to her arm and his eyes perked up with curiosity and he asked, "You patched yourself up…?"

Nick looked to her arm and a scowl formed to his features, "Where'd you get that stuff?"

"Did they steal from us?" Rebecca snarled.

"This doesn't change a thing. They haven't done anything to us." Pete said.

"Says the one not carrying a baby." Rebecca shot back.

"That has no relevance!" Keith snapped being frustrated by the woman's attitude.

"Boy, you don't snap at me." Rebecca snarled. "I will…" Rebecca then started to approach the boy in a threatening manner until Luke put his hand out in front of her and shook his head.

"Rebecca, I think you have done enough. Go back to the house." Luke said coldly.

Rebecca jumped at his sternness but her surprise gave way to anger and exclaimed, "How dare you. You think you can tell me what to do-!"

"You are not helping the situation!" Luke exclaimed.

"Back the f*** off!" Rebecca shouted.

Alvin quickly walked to Rebecca's side and said, "Baby, I think what Luke is trying to say is that things are a little stressed right now and he doesn't want you to worry about something like this. You're going to need all of your energy for the baby."

"Forget it." Rebecca snarled. "I get the point." Rebecca then stormed off as Alvin let out a sigh.

"Listen for what it's worth, we're both sorry that we took the supplies, but you left us with no other choice." Clementine said.

Carlos gave scowl and went into the shed to gather the supplies from the house and said, "Bring her in and I'll have a look at her arm." He then walked toward the house but then stopped and sent a glare toward Keith and said, "But he stays out here."

"What!" Luke exclaimed.

"Shit, Carlos, it's going to freeze tonight! He can't stay out here!" Pete exclaimed.

"I don't want him anywhere near Sarah." Carlos said stubbornly.

"I'm not going inside without Keith." Clementine protested.

"Yes you are." Keith said.

Clementine looked to Keith shocked by his noncompliance towards her decision. For the short period that she knew him, Keith had sided and helped Clementine every time but this time was the exception. Clementine shook her head and said, "No, no, no, you can't stay out here. You'll freeze and we need to treat your wound." Clementine said.

"I'll be fine." Keith protested. "Clementine, I want you to go in there."

"Are you coming or not?" Nick snapped.

"Just go, I'll be alright. I promise." Keith said.

Clementine hesitantly nodded her head and looked down sadly. She was disappointed by her own decision. She should stay with Keith, but her body had already indicated that it was running on fumes and her stomach was starting to cramp from lack of food. "You better promise." Clementine snickered.

"I'll give you my word." Keith said as he played along.

Clementine's smile fell as she exited the shed. Luke stood at the entrance and asked, "You hungry?" Clementine ignored him and kept walking as Luke sighed sadly. He then closed the door with Keith looking towards Clementine with an admittedly happy expression.

He was thankful that he saved her. She was fun, lively, caring, and one of few people that he still cared about. The door closed shut and Keith grabbed his electric lantern from the workbench. He set it down close by as he grabbed a blanket from his backpack and allowed his body to rest on the floor. His injured arm was still emitting pain as he thought to himself that tonight was going to be a long night.

* * *

><p>Inside the cabin, Carlos was looking at Clementine's arm as she looked nervously towards Nick who was a little too close to his hunting rifle for her liking. Meanwhile, Luke paced around the room with a bit nervousness and anxiety. The tense atmosphere was broken when Carlos said, "This might hurt a little."<p>

"Ow." Clementine said in response as she felt an unpleasant jolt from her arm.

"How's she look?" Luke asked.

"Hm… well, I'd say she should be fine." Carlos said as he looked to Luke.

"So it wasn't a lurker bite?" Luke asked.

"If it was, the fever would have already set in and her temperature would be through the roof." Carlos replied. Feeling guilty, Nick left the room hastily and Luke ran off in pursuit.

As they left, Clementine inspected her arm and Carlos went to look out the window with a disgruntled and angry sigh. "I wish you wouldn't have done what you did." Carlos said angrily.

"Keith and I were hurt and you weren't helping. And you still aren't helping Keith." Clementine said. The last sentence was said with a touch of anger and disappointment.

"Because we considered you a threat which you were." Carlos replied. "Maybe you still are."

"No, I'm not." Clementine said.

"Either way, we know that Keith is in every way a threat." Carlos said.

"Keith only wants to help. He is not hostile." Clementine said.

"We put you in that shed out of the safety and concern of our loved ones. And then you and that… that monster escaped and convinced my daughter to steal from us." Carlos said as his voice got progressively bitter and angry.

Clementine glared at the man and said, "Don't call Keith that. He has been put through as much as you have."

"Oh really? You think he has been through as much as any of us have?" Carlos inquired.

"Yes, I do." Clementine protested.

Carlos gave an angry and disgruntled sigh and said, "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt this time but there are a few things that you need to know about my daughter."

"Okay." Clementine said.

"She isn't like you." Carlos stated bluntly but continued, "You may not get that initially but if she knew what the world was really like out there, she would… cease to function. She's my little girl and she is all I have left. And I would ask that you would stay away from her."

Clementine looked down sadly and said, "Carlos, I think what you're doing is one of the nicest things a father could do for his daughter. I sometimes wish my dad would still be around to do the same, but you can't baby her all the time. You have to at least show her how to use a gun."

Carlos turned around with a glare and said, "Shut up! How dare you think that you know what is best for my daughter! Rebecca was worried that you and Keith were working with someone else. That you being here was no accident-and I believe her." Carlos approached the girl and said, "You are not to be trusted." Carlos walked towards the door and looked back to Clementine and said, "Stay away from my daughter or there will be serious consequences."

He then stormed out of the room as Luke entered to see Clementine standing by somewhat mesmerized by the doctor's sudden and unreasonable anger and threats towards her. Her thoughts were interrupted when Luke asked, "Hey uh… brought you some food if you want it."

Clementine looked to Luke with a smile and the two went to the table. Luke presented a bowl of oatmeal as her meal and she started to eat as Luke asked, "So what was that between you and Carlos. He seemed to be really upset when he left the room."

Clementine stopped eating and said, "I just told Carlos that he shouldn't baby Sarah as much but that was enough to set him off. He said he doesn't trust me, he thinks Keith is monster, and he said that if I get anywhere near Sarah that there would be 'serious consequences.'"

Luke jumped in surprise and said, "Pete and I will talk to him. If anything, I think he is on edge about Keith being here. He probably didn't mean it." Luke then looked to Clementine's arm and said, "That's going to leave one helluva scar."

Clementine then recalled Pete's original proposal to take her arm off and she replied, "Better than losing it."

"You can say that again." Luke said. "Scars… they're way cooler than stumps."

Clementine perked up at the mention of having a stump as she recalled that her guardian had one before he died. Luke noticed her shock and asked, "Hey, you alright?"

"Uh… yeah, it's just that... I had a friend who lost his arm once." Clementine said.

Both could hear someone enter the room and they looked over to see Nick. Clementine remembered his initial anger and hostility toward her and Keith and she went back to eating. Nick got closer to the girl but she simply ignored him and he said, "Hey look. Um, I just wanted to say that I am sorry for… well… for being a dick out there… and shooting Keith… I got kinda agro and that definitely was not cool." Clementine stopped eating and looked to the man.

"Nick has been known to go off every once in a while. Don't hold it against him." Luke explained.

"I guess we all have our moments." Nick said.

"You definitely had one out there." Luke said.

"You were just trying to protect your friends. I get it, but that didn't give you any right to shoot Keith." Clementine said.

"I know and I do need to make it up to him in some way." Nick said. "I didn't mean to sound so harsh to you or Keith… It's just… we had a bad experience once."

"We've all had bad experiences." Clementine replied.

Nick sat down next to Clementine as he looked sadly at her. "Nick lost his mom. We took care of someone who'd got bit." Luke explained to Clementine.

"It was my fault, I-" Nick started to say but was interrupted by Luke who said, "It was no one's fault. We thought we could control it… but we couldn't. And she turned and Nick's mom was standing right there and she got attacked." Nick looked down sadly at the painful memory as Luke continued, "There was nothing we could do about it."

The atmosphere grew to be somber and after a few seconds, Nick said, "Anyway. Hopefully you can forgive me."

"I do. Yeah." Clementine replied.

Nick looked to her appreciatively and headed out of the conjoined kitchen and dining room. Clementine went back to eating her oatmeal as Luke asked, "So since you and Keith are with each other, what's your plan?"

Clementine stopped eating again and looked to Luke sadly and said, "We need to move on."

"Look, I know things are rough right now but in time, the group will trust you." Luke said.

"Luke that's not true and you know it." Clementine replied. Luke looked surprised by the young girl's response and she continued, "Carlos and Rebecca don't trust or like me. They want me out of here, and none of you trust Keith…" Luke looked down sadly and wanted to argue but he knew that the girl was right. "Luke, it will be better if Keith and I moved on."

Luke sighed and said, "I hope that you will change your mind." Clementine gave a doubtful stare and continued to eat, leaving Luke in silence. "So… what happened to your parents… if you don't mind me asking?" Clementine stopped herself from eating and looked up to Luke as she recalled everything that had happened since the apocalypse. "I mean, I assume what happened to them is the same as what happened to almost everyone's parents." Luke continued. "You're just so young… didn't think you could have made it on your own for so long…"

"Other people took care of me, if that's what you're asking." Clementine said.

"I was just curious." Luke said.

For some reason, Clementine felt compelled to tell her story to Luke, the same way Keith was able to open up and share his story with her. "My parents went on vacation and left me with a babysitter and they never came back. We went to Savannah to try and find them… but they were already dead."

"Wow, I'm really sorry to hear that." Luke said.

Clementine continued and said, "This man… found me and took care of me. We met up with other survivors and we all tried to make it… but it didn't work." Luke looked sadly towards the girl as he realized that she had probably been through worse things than his own group. "His name was Lee. He taught me how to survive; he taught me how to shoot a gun."

"What happened to him…?" Luke asked.

"The same that happens to everyone, but he saved me, lots of times." Clementine said sadly.

"Huh, he must have been really something." Luke said.

The atmosphere returned to being solemn and depressing until Pete walked and said, "I hate to interrupt but I'm out there standing watch and can't help but notice that this place is lit up like a beacon in the middle of the woods."

"Yeah, it's time to turn in anyway." Luke said.

"Get your winks in while you can, cause we're leaving at first light." Pete said to Clementine. "A couple of fresh brookies for dinner? Mhm, wouldn't that be nice?" Luke nodded, stood up, and left the room. Clementine and Pete stayed for a couple of seconds as Clementine smiled to the older man. Pete smiled back before leaving.

Clementine then finished eating as Rebecca opened the door to the kitchen and asked, "Oh, you're still here?"

Clementine replied with a nod as Rebecca skulked her way to the sink. Rebecca began to clean some of the dishes and said, "I wouldn't get comfortable if I were you. You may have fooled the others but not me." Her voice was laced with bitterness and suspicion.

"You don't have to threaten me. Keith and I are leaving as soon as possible." Clementine said calmly.

Rebecca stopped and went to the girl and said, "I don't think so. Keith is not going with you. You are going to leave this house by tomorrow and if you ever return, I will make sure that it will be the last thing you ever do." Rebecca looked down to the girl with an angry and intimidating glare but Clementine showed no signs of being afraid.

"I'm not leaving without Keith." Clementine stated.

"Yeah well guess what? Keith isn't leaving any time soon. As for you, I know you can't be trusted and soon everyone will know." Rebecca said. She then stomped out of the kitchen.

Clementine then sighed and looked out the window. "Keith, please be alright."

**Later That Night**

A man walked out of the cabin as everyone rested and headed towards the shed where a sleeping Keith was. The man laid his hunting rifle on the ground and quickly unlocked the shed. He opened it to see Keith sleeping somewhat peacefully on the ground, and the man picked up his hunting rifle. He went to the boy and said, "Keith, wake up." The man proceeded to nudge the boy awake and the boy's eyes started to flutter open as the man place his hunting rifle nearby.

"Nick? What are you doing out here?" Keith asked groggily. He then yawned and continued, "It's not morning yet."

"I know." Nick replied sadly and he continued. "I shot you and I want to make that up." Nick then reached for his back pocket and brought out some disinfectant, bandages, a needle and some thread. "I'm going to do the best I can…"

"Nick you don't have to…" Keith said.

"Yes I do, like I said, 'I owe you.'" Nick protested.

Keith sent an appreciative smile toward Nick and proceeded to take his hooded-sweater off to reveal a black t-shirt. He pulled up the sleeve of his left arm and cringed when his hand passed by the torn and scarred muscles that were grazed by Nick's earlier bullet. Keith nodded to indicate that he was ready. Nick nodded back and started to tilt the bottle of disinfectant toward Keith's arm and poured a small amount on the wound. Keith cringed and even jumped in pain. "Ouch!" Keith exclaimed.

Nick then pressed the already threaded needle to Keith arm and said, "Alright, don't squirm, you got it."

"I'll do my best." Keith said.

Nick huffed and pushed the needle through the skin and Keith gasped and cried in pain. Nick kept going as tears and pained huffs could be heard from Keith. "Stop squirming!" Nick said.

"I'm trying." Keith huffed tearfully.

Nick finally finished and wrapped Keith's arm in gauze. Nick sighed and then hugged the boy avoiding his sore arm as he did so. "Good job." Nick stated bluntly as he patted the boy's back. Keith was surprised by Nick's sudden kindness towards him. Nick then got up as Keith wiped his tears with his arm. "I don't owe you anything now." Nick said somewhat coldly.

Keith looked to Nick as he picked up his hunting rifle and headed out of the shed. "Nick wait." Keith said.

Nick whirled around and snarled, "What?"

"Thank you for helping me." Keith said. Nick sighed and shook his head in response. He didn't know how to respond to the boy. After all, he did something against the group's wishes, but he felt that he owed Keith since he shot the boy. Nick had to convince himself that he did the right thing as he proceeded to exit and close the door. Keith looked thankfully toward him but Nick ignored the boy's stare and closed the doors. Keith then put his hooded-sweater back on and wrapped his upper body in the blanket in an attempt to stay warm.

**Morning**

Pete was walking down a trail that he and the other cabin members used to get to the river. Clementine followed behind him, consumed by thought. Pete noticed that the girl was starting to slow and asked, "How are you holding up? I heard you got an earful from Rebecca last night. Once she gets going, there's no bringing her back. Her bark is worse than her bite."

"What's her problem?" Clementine inquired.

"She has a lot on her mind lately, with the baby… and well, Keith showing up yesterday didn't help either." Pete replied. They then walked over a door that now acted as a bridge. He looked behind to see Clementine look down sadly. She was worried about Keith; she didn't want him to become more injured than what he already is. "Don't worry about Keith." Pete said. "I fed him some oatmeal early this morning, and he seemed to be alright."

Clementine immediately smiled toward the older man and said, "Thanks for doing that."

"It's the least my group owes you after everything." Pete said. "Well these fish traps shouldn't be that far from here. I'm just wondering where my lazy-ass nephew might be." Pete then noticed Clementine looking at his gun and he asked, "Hey did anyone ever taught how to shoot? And I mean shoot proper. Any idiot with a finger can shoot."

"Yeah but not a rifle." Clementine replied.

"Well that makes sense, something like this would probably knock you down on your ass." Pete said as he walked through an opening in the fence. Clementine followed as Pete continued, "Nick was about your age first time I took him hunting." Pete stopped as he continued to explain the story. "We came across this beautiful 13-point buck just standing there on the ridgeline." Pete then brought the rifle up as a demonstration of Nick holding it and continued, "The boy takes up the rifle... lines up the shot just like I taught him… then I hear him start whinin. He turns to me and says, 'I can't do it. I can't shoot it Uncle Pete. Please don't make me shoot it.'"

"Really? No way." Clementine said with a slight giggle.

Pete smiled until he could hear his nephew, ""Hey!" Nick exclaimed as caught up with the two. "Why didn't you wait?"

"You want us standing around while you're pissing on a tree? You know where the river is boy." Pete said. He then turned to Clementine and continued with the story, "Anyway, I grab the gun out of his hand before the big buck runs off, when BANG! The gun fires. The boy nearly gut shot me. And of course the buck gets away."

Nick scowled angrily and exclaimed, "Why are you going and telling her this shit for?"

"Because you shot her friend yesterday and you went all ape-shit." Pete snapped back. "Just trying to let her know that it is nothing personal with you."

"Why are you always giving me such a hard time?" Nick complained.

"Because you're always giving everyone else a hard time." Pete replied.

"I apologized already. She accepted it." Nick said.

"Well alright; I didn't know that." Pete replied.

"It's fine; he apologized." Clementine added.

"You're always trying to embarrass me." Nick scolded Pete.

"You're doing a good enough job of that on your own." Pete shot back. "Besides, you may have made it up to Clementine, but you still haven't done a damn thing for Keith." Nick jumped at the mention of the boy's name and glared at his uncle. Nick pushed Pete out of the way and started to leave the two. "Leaving us again." Pete snarled.

"I know where the f****** river is." Nick shot back and he left the two.

Pete shook his head, disappointed by Nick's attitude and said, "So, anyway… I came across that buck later that season. I shot it right in the neck. Brought it up to my sister's figurin she'd wanted to freeze some of the meat. Nick didn't speak to me for weeks. Sometimes, you got to play roll, even if it means the people you love hate you for it." Pete then rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably as he considered his own words.

"You should tell him that." Clementine said.

Pete considered what the girl had said to him and looked to her with a thankful look.

Suddenly, there was yell from Nick, "Uncle Pete!"

Pete and Clementine ran for the river where Nick was. Pete was worried about Nick and said, "Nick?" When Nick finally came into view, Pete could see what frightened his nephew. "Oh, my stars and garters." Pete said as he looked around the area. There were bodies everywhere along the river bank. Pete went to observe one of the mangled bodies and shook his head in disgust.

"Who could have done this?" Clementine wondered.

"Not sure yet." Pete replied. "But it aint your average gang of thugs, that much I'm sure."

"Think about it. You're Carver, what do you do?" Nick said to his uncle.

Pete considered his nephew's input and said, "They're full of holes, so it's possible. Check these guys for ammo; we're running low. Also keep an eye and ear out for survivors."

Clementine went to one of the bodies which wore a distinguishable leather jacket that read, 'Plastic Toys' on the back. She looked him over and said, "This one's shot too."

Through the head?" Pete asked.

Clementine double-checked to make sure and said, "Yeah."

Nick came back over as Clementine and Pete got up from their observations. Clementine noticed the bank on the other side had bodies too. "There are more on the other side." Clementine said.

"This wasn't just your rinky-dink pissin match." Pete said

"What was it then?" Nick asked.

"FUBAR." Pete replied as he headed for the small island in the middle of the river.

"Where the f*** are you going?" Nick exclaimed. "We need it get out of here now!"

"Got to check the rest." Pete said bluntly.

"No way! What for?" Nick exclaimed.

"Calm down and think about it son." Pete said as he crossed a shallow part of the river to get to the island.

"Calm down? We need to get out of here now!" Nick exclaimed.

"For crying out loud, get a hold of yourself!" Pete snarled.

"What if someone's alive, Nick?" Clementine asked.

"Who cares?" Nick replied unsympathetically.

"Because they might just be inclined to tell us who did this." Pete said. "We have to do this now." Clementine nodded and leapt for a boulder in the middle of the river. Pete focused his attention to his nephew and said, "Stay over on this side and keep check these."

Nick anxiously looked behind to the forest and said, "This is a dumb idea."

"You know Nick, I don't like this either but sooner or later you're going to have to learn the simple truth." Pete said.

"What? That you're an asshole." Nick replied.

"That no one in this world is going to give a damn of whether you like something or not. You got to grow up son." Pete scolded.

"Whatever." Nick said angrily and he went back to checking the bodies for ammo.

"Come on, Clem." Pete said as he directed his attention to Clementine. "You want to be useful. Keep an eye out on that tree line. Whoever did this might still be around, waiting for another sucker…"

"I would be more useful if I had a gun." Clementine said.

"I don't doubt that." Pete replied.

"At some point, you guys are going to have to trust me." Clementine said.

"Hell, I trust you but not everyone is at that point yet; give them time." Pete said. "Listen, just keep your head on straight." Clementine nodded. Pete then noticed a walker that had a flagpole sticking out of its chest. "Hm, same thing, shot to pieces; I hope this wasn't someone you knew." Pete said as he put his foot on the walker and took the flagpole out of its chest.

"Well, no." Clementine replied as she observed the walker.

"Good." Pete said as he killed the walker with the flagpole. Pete then looked up and noticed more bodies on the opposite shore. "Dammit, more on that side. You check out these ones. See if there's anything on them that'll tell us who they were." Pete then left the girl as he went to check the bodies on the other side…

…**To be continued.**

**A/N: Sorry, the next chapter is going to be boring. Almost nothing changes between the game and the next chapter.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Not going to lie, this is going to be one weak chapter. It's like a filler when it comes to fanfiction, but this chapter is needed for future reference and character development. If you want to skip it, that's fine. I wouldn't blame you, but either way, let's begin.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

Clementine looked through the bodies to see if there was anything of use but there was nothing. The bodies were clearly shot to pieces. Clementine shuttered slightly; she certainly did not want to meet whoever did this. Finally she went up to the last body and gasped. It was one of the three scavengers that ambushed her and Christa. The scavenger looked horrible and must have been on the verge of dying.

The man's raspy breathing almost made Clementine sympathetic to the man. However, she regained her focus by telling herself that this man would kill her if he had the chance, and then Lee's and Omid's sacrifice would be in vain. She crouched down in front of the scavenger and said, "That's my backpack…" Clementine then realized that she was talking to someone who knew if Christa made it or not. "You were in the woods with Christa… the woman I was with. What happened to her? Please, tell me. Tell me."

The scavenger coughed, "Please…" He then pointed to her backpack with the bottle of water. Clementine picked up on the hint and grabbed the water bottle. She then helped the scavenger with a drink as he coughed, "Thank you."

"Please, you have to tell me where Christa is." Clementine pleaded but her pleas fell on deaf ears. The man died at that very moment, leaving Clementine unanswered.

Suddenly, there was a yell of pain that came from Pete, "ARRGH!" Clementine looked over to see Pete back away from a crawler and fired with his hunting rifle to kill the creature.

"Uncle Pete!" Nick exclaimed.

"I'm fine." Pete huffed. "I…I just lost my footing. Dammit… Dammit!" Nick and Clementine looked to Pete worriedly until Nick could hear rustling from behind. He turned around and saw several walkers heading for him. "Shit lurkers!" Nick exclaimed.

I'm out of ammo!" Pete exclaimed as he repeatedly pressed the trigger hopelessly.

"Come this way!" Nick yelled.

"Son of a bitch… dammit you get your asses over here, the both of you!" Pete exclaimed. Meanwhile, Clementine kept looking back in forth, unsure of who to go with.

"Come over here and I'll cover you!" Nick exclaimed.

Clementine finally came to a decision and ran for the other side of the river where Pete was. She figured that Nick was stronger and younger, so he could survive on his own better than Pete, especially considering that Pete was out of ammo.

"Come on, come on!" Pete exclaimed as he waved his arm to Clementine. Suddenly, a walker grabbed him from behind. Pete was able to get away from the walker's grasp, but as a result, he lost his balance and fell on a rock with the walker landing on him. Pete was able to keep the walker at a distance by putting his foot to its chest. It growled and snarled and tried to reach Pete. Pete struggled with the walker as Clementine ran to him pulling out her knife. She stuck the knife into the walker's skull and took it out as soon as the creature showed no signs of life.

Pete then pushed the walker off of him and huffed as he got on his own two feet. However, the relief from the struggle was short-lived as Clementine and Pete could hear Nick yell angrily at one of the walkers and bashed it with the butt of his rifle.

"Nick! Hold on!" Pete yelled. However, Nick was completely surrounded with only one way out, which was the forest behind him. He bolted out of the area and into the forest. "Nick!" Pete shouted.

Clementine looked on horrified by the results of her decision but her thoughts were soon broken when she heard several growls that were increasing in number and were getting louder which meant they were getting closer. She looked over and her suspicions were confirmed as several walkers were heading towards her and Pete. "We have to go." Clementine said.

Pete looked over to the river bank where his nephew was. He hated to leave especially not knowing if Nick was okay but he had no other choice. Pete started to limp away as Clementine ran. Several walkers were in pursuit of the pair but they were advanced in decaying and were too slow to catch up with the pair. The only problem was that the gunshots woke up the entire forest which had several dormant walkers in it and they would create a problem for Clementine and Pete.

* * *

><p>Clementine and Pete finally found sanctuary within an abandoned van. Walkers started to bang on the van in a desperate attempt to get in which was unsuccessful. "Well, they shouldn't be able to get through that." Pete huffed. "On the downside, we can't get through them." Pete then slid down one of the walls of the van and huffed. Clementine could now see that Pete was starting to become pale and there was a noticeable blood patch on his leg that was in the shape of a human chomp. "What are you looking at? Staring ain't polite." Pete said.<p>

"Wh-What are you going to do?" Clementine asked.

Pete sighed as he accepted defeat. He was bit and there was no way around that fact. He then saw the hack saw that was on one of van's shelves and said, "Hand me that there." Pete said as he indicated the saw.

"Cutting it off won't work." Clementine objected.

"Says who?" Pete inquired.

"It didn't work my friend, Lee." Clementine said sadly.

Pete huffed and said, "Well, it's better to try than to wait for the alternative to happened." He then grabbed the saw from the shelf as Clementine got up and backed away. Pete straightened his bitten leg and pressed the saw against it. Clementine closed her eyes as Pete struggled to make the cut until he finally threw the saw aside and exclaimed, "I'd bleed out like a stuck pig! What are you gonna do? Carry me outta here on your back." Pete sighed and said, "Hell… just give me a minute."

"Try to get some rest." Clementine said. "There's a lot of stuff in here. Maybe there is something we can use."

Pete gave a pained grunt in response. Clementine looked around the vehicle until she looked to driver's seat. The keys were still in the ignition! She twisted the keys to start up the engine but the vehicle didn't start. "Out of gas." Pete observed.

Clementine then looked into one of the van's compartments and saw some cigarettes in it. "What's in there? Anything we can use?" Pete asked. Clementine got up and showed the box of cigarettes to Pete. "Gimme one of those." Pete said. Clementine approached Pete as Pete continued, "Probably tastes like pine tar by now." Clementine then handed the box of cigarettes to Pete and Pete asked, "You got a light?" Clementine nodded as she used her zippo lighter to light one of the cigarettes for Pete. Pete took a whiff and coughed, "Well that tastes about as bad as it smells."

"Now what?" Clementine asked as she stood back up.

Pete took another whiff of the cigarette and said, "Now we wait." Pete replied.

Clementine sat down next to Pete and hugged her legs as she and Pete waited, hoping rescue would come.

**Night Time**

The van was rather dark but was somewhat lit up by the full moon in the night sky. Clementine was asleep until she could hear Pete coughing violently. Clementine's eyes shot open as she crawled backwards away from Pete. Clementine then got up and slowly approached Pete with her knife at the ready just in case it wasn't Pete. "Pete…?" Clementine asked.

Pete coughed violently again and got himself upright. Blood covered his mouth and his skin was extremely pale; in many ways Pete reminded Clementine of her late friend Duck. "Dammit, I feel like ten pounds of shit in a five pound sack." He coughed more and then spat out some blood as Clementine crouched down on her knees. "My stars. We've been stuck in this can all day." Pete then huffed before he continued, "You want to hear something funny? I've been thinking, and I don't want to die." Pete then went into a coughing and laughing frenzy as Clementine looked to him sadly. Pete regained his composure and said, "I never thought that I would be the kind of idiot to say something like that. But there it is. I'm scared Clementine; I really am."

"You're going to be okay." Clementine said.

"At least spare me the bedside bullshit." Pete said.

"Sorry." Clementine replied.

"Would you… would you promise me you'll watch out for Nick?" Pete asked. "I love that stupid kid…"

"I'll do what I can." Clementine replied.

"Thank you." Pete said. He then smiled and said, "You know… when Luke and I found you and Keith in those woods… I don't know… you gave me hope that there is a future for our little group. Despite what the others think. I trust Keith; he always was a good boy. Too bad his dad is a piece of shit." Pete then looked to Clementine and said, "You're the same way. For the short time, I've known you… you saved my life back there… you gave me time to think and consider everything. I don't think I can repay you for that." Clementine smiled at the man as he smiled to her. His features then changed to be serious and said, "Been almost a day. They ain't going to find us."

Pete then started to get up. He struggled to do so as Clementine asked, "Where are you going?"

Pete opened the back of the van slightly and noticed that there were only a couple of stragglers nearby. "I'm not getting outta this. You're gonna have to make a break for it. I'll buy you some time." Pete said.

"You're coming with me." Clementine said.

"To do what?" Pete asked. "Die a couple hours later from now?"

"To say goodbye to Nick." Clementine replied.

Pete sighed and said, "All right. I'll try." Pete then tried to get up so he would be standing as he said, "Well… like my daddy used to say, we're burning daylight." Clementine grabbed her backpack and nodded as a signal that she was ready. "Let's get this over with." Pete said.

They exited the van and got to the ground. Everything seemed clear until a walker appeared next to Pete. It growled sickeningly as it tried to catch one of the two survivors with its arms. Pete and Clementine ran from the creature as other walkers nearby took notice of the two. Unfortunately, Pete fell and yelled in pain. Clementine looked back as Pete struggled to get back up, "This ain't going to work." Pete said. "Go on now. Find my nephew."

"You have to try!" Clementine exclaimed as she grabbed Pete's arm.

"I said, go!" Pete shot back. "Dammit just go!" Having no other choice, Clementine did as Pete had asked of her and she ran from the scene. "Run!" Pete yelled. Clementine noticed a couple of walkers heading for her but she was able to avoid them and continued to run for the cabin.

* * *

><p>It was finally morning as Clementine could finally see the cabin. She used her remaining energy to reach it; she huffed to catch her breath and went inside. She looked around the kitchen to find anyone and then she heard a couple of chairs scoot back. "Clementine! Are you alright?" Carlos asked as Clementine turned around to face him and Rebecca. "Luke's not with you?"<p>

"Where's Alvin?" Rebecca exclaimed.

Clementine looked down sadly and shook her head. "What happened?" Carlos asked. "It has been hours. Where are they?" Carlos inquired as he walked up to the young girl.

"Clem?" Rebecca said approaching the girl.

Clementine looked up sadly and said, "Pete got bit."

"What?" Rebecca exclaimed in surprise.

"What happened?" Carlos asked.

"Walkers." Clementine stated bluntly.

"My gosh." Carlos said. Fear evident in his features.

"Where were you? Where were you exactly?" Rebecca asked with a scowl.

"Down by the river." Clementine replied.

"We have to go there." Rebecca said.

"Just hold on a minute." Carlos said.

"My husband is still out there!" Rebecca exclaimed. "Get the guns!"

Carlos was stunned for a moment but nonetheless ran for the living room to get into the storage closet for the guns and ammunition.

"Luke and Alvin went out looking for you. I told them not to go." Rebecca explained. "Dammit Luke."

Carlos returned with a hunting rifle and an 8 mm handgun and gave the hunting rifle to Rebecca. The two then started to walk out the door until Carlos turned to Clementine and said, "Clementine, can you… can you please watch Sarah. Just distract her and don't tell her anything about what happened."

Clementine crossed her arms and said, "I thought that I wasn't supposed to go anywhere near Sarah or there would be 'serious consequences.'" Clementine replied using air quotes around the last two words.

Carlos was shocked by the girl's memory and said, "Clementine, I'm sorry. I was wrong. Please, just watch her."

Clementine sighed and said, "I will, for Sarah's sake."

"Thank you." Carlos replied.

"Carlos let's go!" Rebecca exclaimed. Carlos then rushed out of the house, leaving Clementine in the conjoined kitchen and dining room.

Clementine left to go into the living room and tried to search for Sarah. Having no luck, Clementine went upstairs and opened the door to Sarah's room. "Say cheese." Sarah said followed by a flash of light. "I found this camera underneath the cabin with a bunch of other stuff." Sarah explained as the photo came out. She then handed the photo to Clementine; Clementine looked over the photo as Sarah exclaimed, "It's so cool." She then handed the camera to Clementine and said, "Here take a picture of me."

"Sure." Clementine said as she grabbed the camera and snapped a photo of Sarah. She took the photo and allowed the picture to develop.

Sarah looked over her and asked, "Hey where's my dad?"

"He'll be back soon." Clementine replied.

However, Sarah sniveled and went toward the window and uttered an apology, "I'm sorry. I just… need a minute." She then sat on the ground and hugged her legs. Clementine got down in front of the girl and placed a supportive hand on her shoulder and she continued with more optimism, "You want to see what else I found under the house."

She then went into her nightstand and pulled out a handgun. "There's no bullets left in it… Do you think you can teach me how to shoot?" Clementine eyes widened. This was a perfect opportunity to teach Sarah how to shoot. Her dad wasn't around to hinder her and none of the cabin members could interfere.

"Okay, but it's not a toy." Clementine said.

"I know that." Sarah said

"First remember, it's just a thing." Clementine said.

"What does that mean?" Sarah asked as she placed her hands in incorrect positions on the gun. It was fortunate that she didn't find any bullets, otherwise if the gun was fired at that very moment, Sarah would break every bone in her hand and some in her arms.

"It means that a gun is a tool, and it can't hurt you unless you do something dumb with it." Clementine stated. "But we won't have to worry too much about that, considering how smart you are."

"I thought it would be heavier." Sarah remarked as she held the gun. "Okay so what should I do next?"

"The most important thing is when you go to shoot, you take a breath before you pull the trigger." Clementine said as she adjusted Sarah's grip on the gun to one which wouldn't harm her. Sarah took in a huge breath and held it until Clementine told her, "Not that big."

Sarah relinquished her breath and looked around with the gun. She then looked towards Clementine and accidentally aimed the gun at her. "What should I shoot?" Sarah asked.

"Don't do that!" Clementine exclaimed as she immediately ducked.

"Sorry… so sorry." Sarah apologized. "Maybe I should practice outside." Sarah said as she went toward the window. "There's that tree." Sarah said as she looked out the window. "Hey Luke's back!" Sarah said happily. Clementine went to the window and noticed a shadow from a figure that was approaching the cabin. Sarah left the room as Clementine followed her.

As she headed down the stairs, Clementine caught a glimpse of the figure yet again as it passed by the window. She walked over toward Sarah as she leaned against the wall. "That's not Luke." Sarah said fearfully. They both looked to the door as someone was knocking on it. "Clem, I…I think I know him. He can't see me. You have to make him go away." Sarah started to panic.

"Go hide." Clementine said.

Sarah looked around and asked, "Where?"

"Hello?" The figure from behind the door said as he knocked on it.

Sarah started to hyperventilate and exclaimed, "Clem… I-I can't breathe. I can't breathe"

Clementine shushed the girl and she started to walk towards the door. She reached for the lock and was about to touch it when the door opened up. "Why hello there." The man on the other side of the door said. He seemed to be in his fifties, maybe younger, wore a brown fur coat, a pair of jeans, and a pair of steel-toe boots. Clementine's eyes widened when she saw his face. His hair was thick and graying and his eyes… she has seen those eyes before. It was Keith's eyes. No way could she forget his eyes. They were different on him though. Keith's eyes showed caring and kindness, while the man's was cold and insincere. They were also not quite as large as Keith's. **(****A/N: One quality that Keith and Clementine share is that they both have rather large eyes)** "How are you?" The man asked.

"Okay, how about you?" Clementine asked. She eyed the man suspiciously, not trusting him in the slightest.

"Just fine, thanks for asking." The man replied. "My group and I are set up down near the river. I'm surprised that we hadn't ran into each other yet." The man said as he signaled down toward the river all the while getting his point across. He was subtly showing that he was armed and wasn't afraid of using the revolver. He smirked when he saw Clementine's eyes widened, but she quickly regained her focus and looked up to the man. He relaxed and said, "So what's your name?"

"What's your name?" Clementine asked.

"Me, my name is George, darling." The man replied. He then started to walk in as he said, "I don't mean to bother you, but I do need a couple of minutes of your time." He then examined the pictures and trophies along the wall. "This is a real nice place. Is there anyone else around?"

"I'm alone." Clementine replied.

"Really?" George asked.

"Yeah, I take care of myself." Clementine replied.

"Well, I'm impressed." George said. "Anyway, I'll cut to the chase. I'm out here looking for my people, eight of them to be exact." The man who called himself George then described the people, "A couple of farm boys and an old man. A Spanish man and his daughter. A quiet girl, a bit taller than you. A big black guy, about this big." The man indicated with his hands and finished, "A pretty, little pregnant lady and a little boy who's around your age."

"That's a lot of people to lose." Clementine said.

"Tell me about it. This whole thing is a damn mess." George complained. He looked into the kitchen to see if anyone was inside. He then went inside the conjoined kitchen and dining room. Clementine followed as the man looked around the kitchen. He finally went up to the sink and said, "Well it looks like a damn tornado ran through here. Lot of plates for just one person."

"I don't ever do the dishes." Clementine said as she slouched against the countertop away from George. She then noticed a sharp knife out of the corner of her eye.

"Hey, believe me, I don't either." George said. "Just passing through or have you been here for a while?" George asked. "Listen kid, I'm hoping that you aren't going north and hoping to find Shangri-La. I'm not sure why you would go anywhere after finding this place."

"Just passing through, heading north." Clementine said.

"A whole lot of people are heading north recently. Me, I don't get it. There's just a whole lot of nothing up there just like there is down here." George said.

"The cold slows them down." Clementine replied.

"Yeah, well to me that's not worth the trade off." George said.

Clementine eyed the knife again. She felt nervous having it out especially with George near it. She wasn't sure what he was capable of. The man followed her line of vision and went to the knife. He picked it up and Clementine jumped when he faced her. "Where does this go?"

"Over there." Clementine pointed to the drawer. George placed the knife back in the drawer and then left the kitchen and went into the living room.

"Well this is a real nice place." He said as Clementine followed him. "Kind of cozy." He then looked to the couch and said, "I knew a man who always wore shirts like this. A doctor. A real smug son of a bitch."

"What happened to him?" Clementine asked.

"He betrayed me. People will always find one or more reasons to cross you. It happens all the time." George said. Clementine nodded understandingly. She knew that first hand when the Stranger abused her trust and kidnapped her.

"Uh oh. White's in trouble." George snapped Clementine out of her thoughts and he continued, "Three moves away from checkmate." Suddenly there was a noticeable creak and George perked up. He went toward the stairs and looked up to the second story as a door slammed shut. He looked back to the girl and said, "I thought you said there was nobody here."

"It might have been just the wind." Clementine said.

George was unconvinced and pulled out his revolver. He headed up the stairs while Clementine stared on in horror. George reached the top of the stairs and opened the door to Sarah's room. Clementine quickly followed in and looked around. She breathed a sigh of relief, not seeing Sarah. "I told you. No one's here." Clementine said.

"Seems that way." George scoffed as he went to the window and holstered his gun. "I didn't mean to be rude. I just couldn't leave you here with a good conscious knowing that someone could be skulking around."

"Sure." Clementine said.

George went to leave the room until he saw something, and he picked up the photo that Clementine took of Sarah. He got up and smirked. "Who is this?" George asked as he showed the photo to Clementine.

"It must have been someone who used to live here." Clementine replied.

"Must be." George said as he scowled at the girl.

She sent back the glare and crossed her arms over her chest to show that she wasn't intimidated. "You have no idea who these people are, do you?" George inquired.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Clementine replied as she struggled to keep up with the façade.

"When you met them, how much they trust you?" George asked.

Clementine's arms fell to her side, and she looked wide-eyed at floor. "They did lock me in the shed." Clementine said.

"You see, now that's my point." George said as he stood in front of the girl feeling smug at his victory. "How can you trust them when they don't trust you?" George looked around and said, "Well, I think I've bothered you enough. I can let myself out." He then left Sarah's room and descended the stairs as Clementine looked down at him.

One question plagued her mind until she asked, "Why shouldn't I trust them?"

"You have a real good day now." George replied and he left the house.

Clementine went back into Sarah's room and looked out the window to see George heading off. At the same time, she could hear Sarah struggling to get out from under the bed. Sarah stood straight up and asked, "Where is he?"

"He's gone." Clementine said.

"What if he comes back?" Sarah asked. Clementine didn't answer as she didn't know what to do if the man named 'George' would return…

…**To be continued.**

**A/N: Sorry, no Keith in this chapter. Just a weak set-up chapter. Don't worry though. Next time will be much better.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

Clementine and Sarah sat on the couch anxiously waiting for the group to return. Clementine was noticeably more on edge. The longer they waited, the more likely George would return. He knows that Clementine is in league with the cabin members, and more than likely, she will share their fate.

Sarah, on the other hand, was looking down at her shoes and seemed distant. Clementine noticed this and asked, "Sarah, are you alright?"

Sarah looked to Clementine and asked, "You're with us, right Clem?"

Clementine immediately looked down sadly and shook her head. "I'm sorry, Sarah. I know that I promised you, but Keith and I have to move on."

"But you promised!" Sarah exclaimed.

Clementine sighed and said, "Sarah, you're dad doesn't like me. Rebecca threatened that she will kill me the night that I spent with you guys, all because I'm a stranger. Imagine what your group will do to Keith now."

"Well, they haven't done anything to him yet." Sarah said. "Keith is still out there in the shed."

Clementine's eyes lit up at the fact that Keith was still alive and okay, but she did not show a smile as Sarah looked to her sadly, "Please, don't go. I can't explain why my group is so mean to you but you'll always have a friend in me."

Clementine smiled and said, "Thanks Sarah, you don't know how much that means to me." Sarah smiled back somewhat sadly. She didn't want Keith and Clementine to go, but there wasn't much she could do.

A long pause followed within the room and Sarah asked, "You'll stay with us, won't you?"

"As long as Keith and I don't get hurt by your group, then yes." Clementine replied. She then grew anxious again. All she could focus on was time… they had to leave the cabin now! "We need to find the others." Clementine said hastily and she got up from the couch.

"But we can't go outside." Sarah objected.

Clementine went into the living room and was greeted to the door opening with the cabin members returning along with Nick. "Clementine." Luke said surprised to see the girl was still okay.

Sarah rushed past Clementine and toward Carlos as he exclaimed her name. "Sarah." Carlos then hugged his daughter, thankful to see her.

"You were with Pete, right?" Luke asked. "Come on, we got to go find him."

"A man was here." Sarah admitted

"What?" Carlos exclaimed.

"What did she say?" Rebecca asked.

"Someone came to the cabin… Clementine talked to him." Sarah said.

"…And you just opened the door for him?" Rebecca inquired as she scowled at Clementine.

"Rebecca calm down." Luke said.

"Calm down? I am calm! You calm down!" Rebecca exclaimed.

"I didn't open the door. He just came in." Clementine said calmly.

"She's telling the truth." Sarah said.

"Did he say what his name was?" Carlos inquired. "Did he say what his name was?"

"Maybe it wasn't him." Rebecca said.

"You know damn well who it was." Alvin said angrily.

Clementine looked to the cabin members surprised by their radical change in attitude. They went from being slightly hostile to being actually afraid. "He said his name was George." Clementine said. "But I think he was lying."

"Clementine, just tell us what he looked like." Carlos demanded. "What was he wearing? What did he sound like?"

Clementine ignored both questions and said, "His eyes were… like Keith's, brown and clear."

"Did he look like Keith?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, kind of." Clementine replied as she nodded.

"He talked about you dad." Sarah added. "You're not going to hurt anyone, are you?"

"Of course he is not, Sarah. Your dad is a very reasonable man. And he isn't going to do anything that is crazy or… not nice, right?" Luke inquired as he scowled at Carlos.

Carlos placed a hand on Sarah's shoulder comfortingly and said, "You know these are bad people, sweetie. They will do or say anything to hurt us." Sarah looked down sadly and nodded understandingly.

All right, what do you think?" Luke asked as he turned to Clementine. "Did it look like he was coming back?"

Before Clementine could answer, Sarah replied, "He saw a picture of me." Sarah then took the photo out from her pocket.

"A picture?" Carlos bellowed as he took the picture from Sarah. "What were you doing taking pictures?" Sarah looked down sadly as her father scolded her.

"Carlos!" Luke yelled.

"What?" Carlos inquired.

"You need to calm down." Luke said calmly. "You're scaring your daughter."

"I took the picture. It's my fault." Clementine confessed.

"No, I asked her to. It's my fault." Sarah said.

"Sarah…" Carlos said disappointedly. Meanwhile, Nick paced around the door nervously. Carlos balled up his fist and tried to think of what to do next until he finally spoke. "He was scouting…" Carlos concluded. "We got lucky. He didn't expect to find us here. Clementine must have surprised him. If she hadn't been here… well he was too smart to stick around, but he'll be back with the rest."

"He's right." Luke agreed. "Everyone pack up. We're moving out."

Alvin stormed past Luke angrily and headed for his and Rebecca's room. "Alvin wait!" Rebecca exclaimed as she ran after him.

Carlos focused his attention to Sarah and said, "We have to leave now sweetie before he shows up with more bad guys. But it's going to be okay."

"What does he want?" Clementine asked.

"To take us back." Carlos stated bluntly. "Listen Clementine, I don't know what he told you but William Carver is a dangerous man. He is the leader of a camp that's not far from here, and he is very smart… we were lucky to escape from him. Look, I'm sorry to involve you but now that he has seen you, it would be safer to come with us."

Sarah left the conjoined dining room and kitchen and went to gather her supplies. Carlos followed her to help her as Luke said, "We need to get going."

"We need to go find Pete." Nick said impatiently.

"We'll get him on the way out, Nick." Luke replied. "Clementine, you know where he was, right?"

"Yeah… but I'm not taking you anywhere." Clementine replied. Both men raised an eyebrow at her and she continued with a smile, "I'm not going anywhere without Keith."

Luke smiled and said, "All right, let's go check on him."

* * *

><p>After the group gathered the essential items for the trip, they went to the shed. Clementine took the lead with Luke close behind. She was anxious to see Keith; she hadn't seen him for a couple of days now and she was worried. Luke unlocked the shed door and opened it to see Keith looking up at the two. "Hey, you guys are here to bust me out or something?" Keith asked.<p>

Clementine smiled and immediately ran to the boy. Keith got up and the two hugged each other. "I'm glad you're okay." Clementine said. They separated from the hug and Keith nodded in Clementine's direction.

Carlos approached Keith and said, "Let me look at your arm." Keith looked to the man questioningly until he remembered that he was shot. Nick must have not told his group of his actions. He obliged and took off his green hooded sweater. Carlos looked at the bandages that were starting to become red from the rough stitching that Nick did the other night. Carlos looked stun but only for a couple of seconds as his face warped to anger. "You went back into our cabin and stole from us again, didn't you?"

"No I-I didn't. They were from my own stash." Keith lied. He didn't want Nick to get in trouble on his behalf.

Carlos gripped the boy's arms and Keith jumped as the man made contact with the sore part of his arm. "Don't lie to me!" Carlos snapped as he shook the boy. "You better one hell of an explanation for this."

"Carlos, get your hands off of him." Nick said. "He didn't take your supplies; I did."

Carlos immediately released Keith and looked to Nick with a disappointed look. "Why? Why would you double-cross us like this? You've done some stupid things before Nick but this was going too far."

"I shot him." Nick gestured to Keith. "It was because of me that he was hurt in the first place. I had to make amends."

Carlos sighed and looked back over to Keith and said, "I'm sorry that I made a quick judgment call, Keith." Carlos then scowled at Nick and said, "If you ever steal from us again, there will be serious consequences."

Nick looked down and nodded. "Yes sir."

"For now, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, but in the future, you need to control your pride." Carlos said. Nick nodded and the group started to head out.

Keith quickly got his hooded sweater back on and walked alongside Clementine with his slingshot at the ready. "So everything okay?" Keith asked.

"Yeah, it's better now that I know you're okay." Clementine said.

Keith looked over to Nick who was talking to Luke and said, "I don't think I would have survived without Nick's help."

"Yeah." Clementine said happily as she looked to the young man who was responsible for helping her friend.

Keith started to look around the group with a questioning stare. He finally said. "Okay, bring me up to speed. What's going on? Why are we all leaving the cabin and where's Pete?"

Clementine looked down sadly and said, "Nick, Pete, and I went to the river to catch some fish yesterday morning. There were a lot of bodies when we got there; it was a massacre." Keith's eyes widened in horror at the thought of so much destruction. "At some point, Pete and I were separated from Nick and we found shelter in a van. That's when I learned that Pete was bit. Last night, we tried to make a break for it, but Pete couldn't keep up. He might have been able to get back into the van, but…"

Keith looked to Clementine sadly and said, "I'm sorry Clem, but like I said before when we were in that shed, once you're bit, it's over."

"You don't know that!" Nick exclaimed as he glared at Keith.

"I'm sorry, Nick, but that's just how it works. I wish it wasn't that way." Keith said. Nick grumbled in response and Keith turned to Clementine, "So the whole group is out looking for Pete, right?"

"I wish that was all." Clementine said somewhat terrified. "Keith… I think I met you dad."

Keith's widened in horror as the rest of the group looked to the boy and noticed his reaction. Both Rebecca and Carlos were surprised by the boy's reaction. They had expected Keith to be working with Carver the whole time, but that was not the case. "No, no, this can't be happening! He found us!"

Nick turned to the boy and got down to eye-level with him and grabbed his shoulders, being careful not to irritate Keith's sore arm. "Keith, calm down. That's why we're leaving the cabin." The group stopped as Nick calmed the young boy down and he continued, "You're going to attract lurkers if you yell that loudly."

"Sorry, I'm just…" Keith contemplated on his next set of words until he abruptly said, "Forget it. We got to move on. If my dad is chasing us, we're going to need to get as much distance between him and us as possible."

Nick smiled and nodded. He released Keith from his grip and the group continued in their trek through the woods.

**25 Minutes Later**

"Now you said it was just up here?" Luke asked as he looked around for any sign of Pete.

"Yeah, just a little ways." Clementine replied.

"Hey Clem, Keith." Rebecca said as she approached the young girl and boy who were still walking side by side. "Sorry if I gave you both some shit back there. I'm just a little stressed over the baby."

"You don't want to kill me anymore, right?" Clementine asked genuinely afraid that the threat was still real.

"No, honey." Rebecca said remorsefully. "I should have never made that threat. I'm sorry. It's just a tough time with the pregnancy and all."

"I understand that." Keith said.

Rebecca raised an eyebrow and asked, "How would you know about that?"

"When my aunt was pregnant with my little cousin, she would act really mean to me. On the bright side, I did get to hold my little cousin when he was born." Keith replied. "He was quite adorable."

"Aww that's cute." Clementine said. "What happened to your cousin?"

Keith looked down sadly and said, "He didn't make it."

Clementine looked to Keith remorsefully. She placed a hand on his shoulder and said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked." Clementine said.

"Don't worry about it." Keith replied. "All we can do anymore is grieve quickly and move on. Rest with one eye open, until your time comes." Keith's tone of voice was dark and depressing and both Clementine and Rebecca looked to the boy worriedly. He shook his head to readjust his focus and said, "I'm sorry… I don't know why I said that. It just… came out of me. I guess I need to read the Good Book more often." Keith said.

"It's okay, Keith. We've all had dark days." Rebecca replied.

Keith nodded and slowed his pace to talk with Nick was now in the back of the group.

Rebecca continued and asked, "Is there something wrong with Keith? He seems so distant. When we were still at Howe's, Carver's community, he would always have a cheerful personality."

Clementine felt conflicted of whether to tell Keith's story to Rebecca or not. She wanted to tell someone so that Keith could be understood better, but it was his story. Keith had to tell the group, not her. Clementine didn't answer the woman. In return, Rebecca continued with a new subject.

"Anyway, Alvin and I still don't know what to call her or him if that man gets his wish." Rebecca indicated to her baby. "I'm going to need help if that wish comes true. Any ideas for baby names?" Rebecca asked. However, Clementine was only half listening as she eyed the area. The area itself looked familiar. She started to walk into the woods as Rebecca asked, "What do you think, Clem?" Rebecca then noticed that the young girl was not at her side. She looked over to see Clementine go deeper into the nearby woods and asked, "Clem?"

It was at that point the group noticed Clementine walking into the woods. They followed her as she approached an abandoned van, the same one that she and Pete took refuge in. "There, that's where we were." Clementine replied.

The group walked next to Clementine and Nick looked on in horror. He braced himself for the worst possible scenario and ran towards the van with a reckless jog. Thankfully for him, Keith had the sling back on his slingshot, readied to fire, just in case Nick was attacked. Nick opened the back doors of the van and exclaimed, "He's not in here." Keith lowered his slingshot and relaxed his arm.

"This was the last place I saw him." Clementine said as Nick looked back to the young girl.

"Maybe he's around here somewhere." Alvin said.

Nick looked around frantically for Pete as Luke separated from the rest of the group. He looked behind a few trees as Nick went towards the opposite direction. "Keep your eyes open." Carlos said. "And stay in sight."

Clementine went over to the van and Keith joined her as everyone else scattered. Keith then noticed some fresh blood on the ground that looked to be human blood due to its brighter red hue as opposed to the dark red blood of the walkers. He signaled Clementine to follow him; she nodded as he brought out his pocket knife. He opened up the blade as he followed the blood trail until it went behind a rock. "Uncle Pete!" Nick called out. They went behind the rock and they both looked on in horror to see Pete's dead body. It was ripped apart and next to it laid a dead walker. Nick and Luke walked up to the scene and Nick exclaimed, "Holy shit! What happened? What the hell happened?"

Keith looked over Pete and came to an immediate conclusion, "He has been shot. My word, this is… is this my dad's doing?" Nick started to cry silently. Luke noticed this and tried to comfort his best friend.

"He didn't have a gun." Clementine remarked.

"What?" Nick exclaimed as he escaped Luke's grasp.

"He didn't have a gun." Clementine repeated.

Nick stood in front of the body and his features quickly turned from sadness to anger and he directed every bit of the anger toward Keith in a glare. "Are you happy, now?" Nick inquired; his rage was building up and he continued. "Your dad killed my uncle!" Nick approached Keith threateningly as Keith got up and started to backpedal.

"Nick, it's not his fault." Carlos said. "Carver did this, not Keith."

"They're one in the same, Carlos!" Nick bellowed. "What is Keith's last name? It's f****** Carver!" With that Nick pushed Carlos aside and was about to attack Keith. Keith backed away further until he tripped over one of Pete's arms.

Thankfully for Keith, Luke was able to restrain Nick by putting him in a full nelson. "Let go of me!" Nick bellowed as kicked the air in a desperate attempt to get free from Luke's grasp.

"No way, brother. You need to calm down." Luke said. "Think about what you are about to do. Would Pete have wanted you to do this?"

"Shut the f*** up!" Nick exclaimed. "Pete's dead now thanks to that stupid kid." The said boy got off the ground shakily, still afraid that Nick would harm him.

"Look Nick, this isn't the way. Just calm down." Luke exclaimed. Nick stopped flailing and huffed angrily from his previous attempts to get free.

Luke released Nick, seeing that Nick was under control. Nick turned to his friend and said, "We got to do something about him. We can't just have him free to do whatever the heck he wants." Nick said as he gestured to Keith.

"Look, we'll think of something, but for now we need to go." Carlos said. Everyone agreed by their actions of leaving the area with the exception of Nick and Luke.

"He's gone Nick. He-He's gone. Come on, we got to get moving. Come on man." Luke said as he tried to physically force his friend to move on. Nick brushed him off and glared at Keith as he and Clementine walked side-by-side.

"He wouldn't have died if it wasn't for that kid." Nick grumbled.

"Nick listen you've lost someone. That loss is clouding your judgment. I know the real Nick would never blame someone's death on a kid." Luke said.

Nick turned around and glared at Luke and said, "Wake the f*** up! The 'real Nick' died a long time ago, when all this shit got started! We're going to do something about that kid; he isn't getting away with murder!" Nick then stormed off, leaving Luke to look at his friend sadly. He looked over to Pete one last time and sighed. He finally left the area and caught up with the rest of the group.

* * *

><p>The group kept walking along in silence as they mourned for Pete's death. The trees and cold weather did little to lift the atmosphere of the group. Finally, Nick approached Clementine and said, "Tell me, tell me how it happened."<p>

"He… He saved my life." Clementine replied sadly.

"Well, that was… that was Pete." Luke said.

"Nick, I'm so sorry for your loss." Keith said. "I understand how it feels to lose the last person you ever cared about."

"No you don't!" Nick said angrily. "You don't know me and you don't know Pete."

"I didn't kill Pete!" Keith exclaimed.

"F*** you." Nick said. Nick suddenly became saddened and continued, "You'll never understand how I feel." Nick then slowed his pace to where he was in the back of the group again and hung his head sadly.

Keith was feeling less than optimistic as well. He felt that Nick hated him now, over something that he had no part in or could even control.

"Listen, I'm still worried about him." Luke said as he gestured to Nick. "Could you two keep an eye on him?"

"Yeah, I promised Pete I would." Clementine replied.

"It might be best if I keep my distance but I'll do what I can." Keith added.

"Good…" Luke remarked. "You sure you want to come with us?" Luke asked as he recalled what Clementine wanted to do a couple nights prior. "Look, I know we got off to a rough start. And it probably ain't going to get better."

"That's real encouraging." Keith joked.

"Sorry, just… telling you the truth." Luke replied.

Clementine huffed and said, "Where else am I going to go? I have to find Christa but I can't do it alone."

"You'll never be alone, as long as I'm around." Keith said. Clementine looked to the boy with a small smile and a slight blush. He returned the smile and blush as the two looked affectionately toward each other.

"Whoa, okay you two slow down." Luke said playfully. "Man, you kids grow up way too quick. Anyway, I got to stick by my group, but I'll do all I can to help you find that Christa woman." Luke said.

"Thanks Luke." Clementine said.

Luke nodded and said, "I figure we got about four to five days till we reach those mountains. If they're tracking us, we should be able to lose them up there."

"Five days?" Rebecca asked worriedly.

"It's going to be okay, Bec." Alvin comforted his wife.

"We have to keep moving. It's our only choice." Carlos said. With that, the group remained quiet as they moved through the forest in a desperate attempt to lose their pursuers.

**Hours Later**

The group had settled down for the night and were asleep. The fire was put out a long time ago and almost everyone was asleep. Nick was the exception as he stared off into the stars, still mourning Pete. "What am I supposed to do?" Nick whispered. "Just forgive him? I wish you were here Uncle Pete; you'd know what to do." He finally got out from under the blanket and went over to the extinguished campfire, contemplating on the day's events.

Nick then heard sniveling and whimpering but he wasn't the only one. Keith woke up after a couple of jabs and kicks to his back. He got up and looked over to his sleeping mate, Clementine, to see her thrashing and whimpering in her sleep. She was wrapped up in a nightmare. Keith nudged the girl awake and whispered, "Clem, Clem wake up. It's just a dream."

The girl's eyes finally shot open and she sat up huffing heavily. "Hey, hey it was just a dream." Keith said as he placed an arm on her shoulder.

She flinched but then her eyes softened when she saw Keith's figure. "Duck?" Clementine asked.

Keith was confused at what Clementine called him and then he remembered that Duck was the name of her friend. "No, it's Keith." Visible tears could be seen coming from her eyes and she looked off distantly. "You alright?" Keith asked. Clementine nodded in response. "Do you want to talk about it?" She shook her head. "Okay, if you ever reach a point where you want to talk, just let me know." Keith said as he rubbed her back. She nodded back understandingly and laid back down. Keith laid back down as well and looked to her as she looked to him.

Clementine was the first to fall asleep feeling the comfort and warmth that Keith provided. Somehow, he would always brighten her day and vice versa. As she laid there sleeping Keith couldn't help but have a deep affection towards the girl. He wanted to protect her at any and all cost, even his life. However, he hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Keith got up carefully so not to disturb Clementine from her sleep. Once he got up, he looked affectionately towards Clementine. Keith slowly got back down and kissed her lightly on the cheek and readjusted the blanket to tuck her in. Keith smiled to see that he hadn't waken her. He then looked over and saw Nick at the extinguished campfire. The man had a smirk which indicated that he saw what Keith did. Keith slowly walked over to the young man and said, "You didn't happen to see that, right?"

"F*** yeah I saw it." Nick snickered. "So, how long have you two been a couple, Boy Wonder?"

"First off, we're not a couple. Second, Boy Wonder, seriously?" Keith inquired.

Nick laughed and said, "Hey why not. You're using a slingshot as your main weapon in defense. That's something Robin would have done."

"Well if I'm Robin, that means you must be Batman." Keith said.

Nick laughed in response. Despite the fact that Keith was forced to grow up in a shitty world, he still tried to retain some of his innocence and playfulness. "Hah deal, but I'm going to call you Boy Wonder more often than Robin."

Keith chuckled in response and the two stared at the extinguished campfire. Neither spoke for several minutes until Keith asked, "So couldn't sleep, huh?"

"No." Nick replied as he shook his head. "I just… keep thinking about Pete."

"I feel you. When I lost mom and Derrick, I think I went through a couple of nights where I couldn't sleep." Keith said but he immediately jumped when he realized what he said.

Nick looked wide eyed at Keith and said, "My gosh. Derrick and Erin, they're both dead."

Keith looked down sadly and said, "Yeah…" Keith huffed and continued, "Carver killed my mom by using a walker and Troy killed Derrick."

Nick's features quickly turned from shock to anger and he said, "F*** them, f*** them both!" Nick then looked to the boy who was saddened by remembering that his mom and future step-dad were gone and Nick continued, "I guess you really are one of us."

"Yeah, the people who got screwed by Carver club, go me." Keith said sarcastically as he fist pumped the air in a sarcastic celebration. "No one's going to pick on me at school anymore."

The two both got a chuckle from Keith's antics and then silence remained for several minutes. Keith yawned and covered his mouth with his fist. Nick looked over and said, "Go ahead and go to sleep Keith."

"What about you?" Keith asked.

Nick shook his head and said, "I'm going to stay up for the whole night probably."

Keith knew better than to argue and nodded his head. He knew from personal experience that mourning made a person do strange things, one of those things was thinking all night instead of sleeping. Keith went back over to Clementine and laid next to her. It didn't take much to put him to sleep, after all of the events of today and the exhaustion of walking all day, sleep came quickly and easily…

**A/N: Keith's and Nick's relationship? What do you guys think? **


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners. I also do not own **_**Kingdom Hearts**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

"So wait a minute, it's about hearts?" Clementine asked as the group continued their long trek to the mountains. Today marked the fifth day on their journey and the adults, especially Rebecca, were exhausted, but Keith and Clementine kept the adults somewhat motivated through their pre-apocalyptic conversations.

"No, the whole title is Kingdom Hearts. It follows three friends who grew up with each other. Two of which could hold these magical weapons called keyblades." Keith explained.

Wait, keyblade? Is it a sword-like key or something?" Clementine asked.

"Bingo, that's exactly what it is." Keith said.

"Sounds weird." Clementine said.

"You'd have to grow up with it." Keith chuckled. "Of course, I never beat the first game. It was too hard."

"Hey, I think I see our mountain up ahead." Luke said from the front of the group.

"Thank goodness." Rebecca huffed as she sat down on a nearby rock. "I don't think I could keep walking any further."

"Bec, you all right?" Alvin asked. The others scattered with Carlos who checked to see if Sarah was okay and Nick stood at the ready at the forest's edge, acting somewhat fidgety.

"Clem, could you go up on this boulder and take a look of what we got ahead of us?" Luke asked as he pulled out a map to figure out where the group was in correlation of the mountain.

"Sure." Clementine replied and she started to climb the rock. She finally reached the top and pulled out a pair of binoculars that were in her backpack. "There's a huge building on the top of the mountain." Clementine said as she scanned the mountain.

"That's probably the ski lodge that were aiming for." Luke said. "See anything else?"

"I see a lift of some kind." Clementine said as she adjusted her binoculars left of the large building.

"A ski lift probably." Alvin said. "Bec and I went on once."

"It wasn't pretty." Rebecca chuckled.

"I never went skiing." Clementine said somewhat sadly. She kept searching the mountain until she spotted a bridge. It looked somewhat passable but it certainly wasn't in the best of shape and there was also a small house right next to it. "I see the bridge and there's a house next to it."

"How big is the house?" Carlos asked.

"It's really small." Clementine replied. She then descended from the boulder and got to the ground as the group got themselves ready to continue the trek.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Carlos asked. "Let's move."

"Now, hold on. We can't just go across that bridge all at the same time." Luke said.

"What did you have in mind?" Carlos asked.

"Clem and I can scoot across that bridge low and slow and make sure it's safe to cross." Luke said.

"Hold on." Carlos said. "Clementine should stay here; she's… just a…"

"She's what Carlos?" Luke asked.

"She's just a little girl, Luke." Carlos said.

"She's a valuable little girl." Luke shot back.

"You didn't care about that fact when you and the rest of the group put us in that shed." Keith said with a slight glare. He didn't mind being in the shed, but putting Clementine in it was unnecessary.

"That was different. We didn't know you then." Carlos said. "And I wanted to protect Sarah."

"I can do it." Clementine told Carlos.

"I'll come with you." Keith added.

"Nah, all I need is Clem. You stay back Keith." Luke said.

Keith shook his head and said, "Sorry Luke, you can't just take one of us."

"Exactly." Clementine chimed in.

Luke sighed disgruntledly and said, "Alright. We'll signal you guys in ten minutes. Just watch for a light at the far side."

Carlos shook his head disapprovingly and said, "I don't like this."

"Wow, shocker, you don't like something. Tell me something that's new." Keith sassed. "Look, like it or not, we've been through worse. This isn't going to be any different." In response, Carlos glared at the boy.

"If something happens, I'll cover you." Nick said as Luke was getting ready to head out

Luke nodded and looked to Clementine and Keith and said, "Come on."

* * *

><p>"What was that all about?" Clementine asked Keith. "Why were you being mean to Carlos?"<p>

"I don't like being underestimated like that, especially from someone in my own group. I can handle distrust but I can't handle that." Keith replied.

"Since when have you ever been prideful?" Clementine asked.

"It has nothing to do with pride. I just don't want to be seen as a… as a useless kid." Keith replied sadly and he lowered his head. "…That's how my dad saw me."

Clementine looked sympathetically to Keith and placed a hand on his shoulder comfortingly, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

"You didn't. It's just hard to see what my dad has become." Keith said. "I mean he may have killed my mom and future step-dad, but I still love him."

"Anyway, to get off that very depressing note, I'm sorry about that back there, but I could really use your eyes right now." Luke said to Clementine. "Quite frankly, I don't trust Nick to tie his own shoelaces. They're all still on edge after the whole Carver thing. No offense, Keith."

Keith shrugged and replied, "None taken."

"It's been five days. Why would Carver still be following us?" Clementine asked.

Luke contemplated on how to respond to the question and asked both children. "What's the most important thing in this world? What does everyone want?"

"In other word, what do we want?" Keith asked.

"Exactly." Luke said.

Both Clementine and Keith looked at each other and smiled, "Family." They said in unison.

Luke was surprised how they both mirrored each other's thoughts and said, "My gosh, like slow down just a little bit."

"Like we can." Clementine replied. "We're having too much fun."

Luke rolled his eyes and smirked until the entrance of the bridge was in sight. There, he saw two walkers at the entrance of the bridge. He stood their contemplating his options and said, "Hmm… can't shoot them. Too much noise. But they're only two."

"Let's take them." Clementine said.

"I like your style." Luke said. He then approached a boulder and crouched down with the two children accompanying him. "I'll take the big one. And one of you two take shorty."

Keith and Clementine looked to each other and Keith said, "Rock, paper, scissors. The loser takes shorty."

Clementine nodded and brought her hands up to play the game. Luke smiled as the Keith said, "Rock, paper, scissors, shoot."

Clementine had her hand in the shape of a paper and Keith had his in the shape of a rock. "Paper covers rock." Clementine said.

"Darn, I never win this game." Keith complained. "Well, deal's a deal." Keith went into his pocket and pulled out his pocket knife. He approached the short walker as Luke snuck up on the taller and mobile walker. Keith then stabbed the short walker with a grunt as Luke sliced the taller walker.

"Whoa!" Luke exclaimed as he looked over to see if Keith was alright. Keith then tried to pull the knife out but it wouldn't come out.

"I think I'm in need for a new knife. This one isn't cutting it anymore, and pun intended." Keith said as he struggled to pull the knife out.

Clementine smirked and rolled her eyes as she walked over to Luke. "Go ahead. Give it a good pull, it should come free." Luke said.

"I know. I've done this before, remember? In a SHED?" Keith said with a sideways glare as Luke looked down ashamed of that day's events.

After struggling for several seconds, Keith finally pulled the blade out. He examined it and saw it was getting dull which explained why he struggled to remove the knife. "I'm going to need to sharpen this thing." Keith said as he closed up the blade.

Keith nodded indicating that he was ready to move on and the three continued moving forward on the bridge. Keith pulled out his slingshot and grabbed a rock that was in a side pouch on his backpack. Two walkers were on the bridge and were headed for the three. The three then heard a walker coming at them from behind. They turned around and Luke cursed, "Shit."

"This isn't going to be easy." Keith said as he brought back the sling.

Luke brought out his machete and approached the walker that was coming from the rear. He was about to attack when part of the bridge collapsed underneath his feet.

"Oh crap! Luke?" Clementine exclaimed. Keith relaxed his arm and saw the gaping hole where Luke and his targeted walker were.

The two ran towards the hole in the bridge to see that Luke was hanging on by a couple of metal poles, and his targeted walker was struggling to get to him but was impaled and wasn't going to be able to free itself. "Clem, Keith, I'm okay. I'm just stuck."

Clementine tried to reach for Luke and said, "I can't reach."

"It's okay." Luke replied. "Clem, Keith we'll figure something out."

Keith then looked up and saw the two previous walker getting dangerously close to them. "We got company." Keith said as he drew back the sling and shot the walker. The rock didn't kill it but it was pushed back by the rock.

Keith's shot gave Clementine enough time to get up and she attacked the walker with her hammer. The walker growled as it fell to its knees. She then proceeded to hit it on top of the head but the walker moved slightly and she ended up hitting it in the jaw. It hissed at her as she tried to remove the hammer.

Meanwhile, Keith brought back the slingshot at the other walker and shot it. It hit the walker in the leg and it fell over with a growl. Keith approached the walker and finished it off with a quick stab of his pocket knife.

Clementine finally managed to get her hammer back from the creature but part of its jaw went with her and her momentum worked against her as she teetered on the edge of the bridge. The walker that she attacked earlier charged at her, but was suddenly hit by something causing it to fall with a loud grunt. Keith quickly ran over and helped Clementine regain her balance. "You okay?" Keith asked. Clementine quickly hugged him to which he blushed and then hugged back.

"Thank you." Clementine said as they released each other.

"We got to look out for each other, right?" Keith said.

"Hey, married couple, can you help me out before you start congratulating each other?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, we're coming." Keith said as he went over and picked up a rebar.

Clementine eyed the walker that she fought earlier and asked, "How did you kill it with your slingshot."

Keith placed the rebar down and went to the dead walker and lifted its head. He then pointed to the center of the head and said, "Right there. That's the center of the skull, also known as, the weakest spot on the skull."

"How do you know that?" Clementine asked.

Keith sighed and said, "Carlos decided to teach me a bit of Anatomy back at Howe's. It was probably the hardest subject that I ever had to do." He then got up, picked up the rebar, and went over to Luke.

Luke struggled with the walker until Keith used the rebar to kill it. He then handed the rebar to Luke who used it to get up onto the bridge again. Luke huffed as the excitement and the horror of the situation sunk in. He then turned to the two and said, "Thank you, both of you." Clementine and Keith smiled back with a nod. Luke looked towards the end of the bridge and said, "Let's keep going."

They kept going until Luke stopped both Clementine and Keith by extending his arm. "You see him?" Luke asked and the two children looked down towards the end of the bridge to see a man approaching them.

"Yeah." Keith and Clementine said simultaneously.

The unknown man continued to approach the trio and Luke said, "Just play it cool. And you do the talking."

"What? Why us?" Keith asked.

"Cause I don't want to get in a fight. And you really think he'd shoot a little girl and boy?" Luke asked. "Just don't make any sudden moves, okay?"

"What should we say to him?" Clementine asked.

"I don't know. Ask him for directions." Luke said.

The man was finally in ear-shot from the trio and asked. "Well who are you?" The man inquired as Luke kept his hand above his handgun.

"Well, who's asking?" Luke inquired.

"I am." The man replied.

"My name is Clementine and these are my friends Keith and Luke." Clementine replied.

"Clementine, Keith, and Luke." The man shouted to give their names a try. He then got closer to them and said, "You don't look like assholes. Are you assholes? No offense or anything… it's just… you know how it is?"

"Luke is but that's alright." Keith said playfully. "We usually keep him around anyway."

"Hey!" Luke whined.

"See?" Clementine added being equally playful.

"Okay, since when have I ever had you two on my case?" Luke asked with a smirk.

The man laughed at the joke and approached them with a more friendly demeanor, "That was good; I liked that. You three heading up north like everyone else?"

"Everyone else?" Luke asked.

"Yeah there's at least one group a day that passes through here to go up north." The man replied. "It's like the great migration of the dazed and the confused."

"Have you seen a woman come through here named Christa?" Clementine asked.

"Christa, maybe." The man replied.

"Really." Clementine said as her eyes widened and she started to smile at the fact that her guardian might still be alive.

"Nah, I mean a lot of people come through here. I don't know." The man said.

Clementine looked down sadly until she felt a supportive hand on her shoulder, "Just because she hasn't shown up through here, doesn't mean she's gone. We'll find her." Clementine sent an appreciative smile towards Keith as Keith smiled back.

"I have to say, you three look like shit. If you're hungry, I got some canned food in that station back there." The man said as he gestured to the small building that Clementine could see through the binoculars.

"Well, that's uh… awful nice of you. What's the catch?" Luke asked.

"No catch. I got plenty." The man replied.

"Well alright then, thank you." Luke replied.

"Hey no problem. It's nice to run into friendly faces out here." The man said. "Like I said I got food and supplies back in the station and if you want…" The man trailed off as he squinted his eyes towards the other end of the bridge. His eyes widened and he asked, "What the f***, man?"

Luke, Clementine, and Keith turned around and saw Nick running towards them with his hunting rifle in hand. "What in the world is he doing?" Luke asked. Nick then aimed his rifle towards the unknown man. In turn, the unknown man raised his rifle. "No, no, no, no! He's wi- He's with us!" Luke tried to reason. He then turned to Nick and waved his arms in the air and exclaimed, "Nick, no!"

"Put it down!" The man exclaimed.

"Nick, it's a friendly! Stop!" Keith exclaimed.

"Don't shoot!" Clementine exclaimed to both men. Suddenly Luke grabbed both Keith and Clementine and brought them down covering them with his own body. A gunshot rang out and the three looked up and saw the man was shot in the throat. He clutched his throat as blood spewed out but then tripped over the bridge into the water below.

Luke got up and seethed as he approached Nick. "Did I hit him? Where is he?" Nick asked.

"I told you not to shoot." Luke said to Nick.

"What? Who was that guy?" Nick asked.

Keith sighed and said, "He was going to help us."

"How do you know?" Nick asked.

"Dammit, Nick! I was telling you not to shoot!" Luke criticized Nick.

"How was I supposed to know?" Nick asked. "You gave me a clear shot."

"That shot rang out for miles!" Luke snapped. He then waved his hand toward the rest of the group to continue on. "We need to get off this bridge. Let's go." Luke said and he led the way towards the other end of the bridge. Nick followed with a glare and Clementine and Keith followed him.

Clementine looked to Keith who was visibly shaken from the experience and she asked, "Keith are you alright?"

Keith shook his head and said, "That could have been me the day that we found this group. What happened to that guy could have happened to me that day."

"But it didn't." Clementine said.

"I know, it's just… you don't get used to stuff like that." Keith said.

* * *

><p>They finally reached the other side of the bridge with Nick and Luke glaring at each other until the rest of the group came. Rebecca physically struggled to reach a nearby log and asked, "Who the f***… was that back there?"<p>

"I don't know." Luke replied.

"It looked like he had a gun on you." Alvin said.

"That asshole drew on me!" Nick exclaimed. "He was about to shoot."

"Oh was he?" Luke inquired.

"I'm telling you man, he drew first!" Nick snapped.

"Because that's not what it looked like to me." Luke said

"Everyone calm down." Clementine said.

Alvin looked to Clementine and Keith and asked, "Clem, Keith what did you see? Was that man going to shoot?"

"F*** you Luke! You have been on my ass all week!" Nick complained.

"And why do you think that is, Nick?" Luke inquired.

"He was going to help us." Keith admitted sadly.

Nick glared at Keith for not taking his side and said, "I know what I saw!"

"Either way, you could have hit one of us!" Luke said. "Hell, Keith already knows what that feels like."

"When are you going to let that go man?" Nick exclaimed. "I shot Keith by accident so f*** off!"

"Look Nick, I know Pete was close to you, but you-" Luke began to say until Nick glared at him and exclaimed, "Hey, I was just trying to protect you. You, Clem, and Keith are all I have left, man! So if I did something stupid back there, then fine, but I'm not losing anyone else who I consider as a friend." Luke looked shock by Nick's confession and stared at Nick with a somewhat shocked expression.

"Do you think he was with Carver?" Carlos asked.

"I don't know. I… No, I don't think so." Luke said. "He fell off the bridge so it doesn't matter."

"He fell off the damn bridge?" Alvin asked.

"We have to keep moving." Carlos said.

"I can't. I need a minute." Rebecca said

"Fine." Carlos said and he stared at Nick. "Luke, I need a word with you, alone." Luke nodded and the two adults walked over to some nearby brush away from the rest of the group.

Nick sighed and he crouched down to be at the same height as Clementine and Keith and said, "Listen, I may have screwed up back there, but I can't lose anyone, not anymore."

"You were scared that you would lose someone else who you cared for; I understand." Clementine said to the young man.

"That goes double for me, but in the future, don't let your fear and anxiety get the better of you." Keith said.

Nick smiled at both of the children and said, "Thanks, Boy Wonder and hmm…. I need a good nickname for you."

"No you don't." Clementine said.

"How about Babs?" Keith asked.

"Hey perfect, you two are already a couple anyway." Nick said and he got up to join Luke and Carlos.

"Babs? Really?" Clementine asked.

"Hey, why not?" Keith said.

"Because I don't even know who Babs is." Clementine replied.

"It's Batgirl. Babs is her nickname used by Dick Grayson, otherwise known as the first Robin." Keith explained.

"How do you know all this stuff?" Clementine asked.

"You pick up plenty of hobbies when you are in the middle of the apocalypse." Keith replied

Suddenly, Alvin broke up the conversation between the two children and asked, "Hey Clem, Keith you two got any food on you? Bec's dying over here." Alvin then gestured toward his wife.

"Alvin, I told you. I'm fine." Rebecca said.

"Sorry, I'm out." Clementine replied.

"Yeah, same here." Keith added.

"Darn, I wish we still had those juice boxes." Alvin remarked.

"Yeah, me too." Sarah said. She must have discreetly went over next to the log that Rebecca was sitting at since no one noticed her until she spoke up.

Keith eyed the small station house and said, "That man said that he had food in that station."

"Mind if you two could check it out?" Alvin asked. "We might be able to spend the night here."

Keith shook his head and said, "Sorry Alvin, but that doesn't look like a possibility at the moment. The station is way too small, but we can definitely take a look inside for any food." Clementine nodded in agreement.

"Thanks." Alvin said as he went over to the log and sat down next to Rebecca. Keith and Clementine nodded and they went into the building.

Inside, there was a cot with some empty cans near it, a radio that sat on an end table, and a trunk at the foot of the bed. Clementine went up to the radio and tried to get a signal. "Anything?" Keith asked.

Clementine shook her head and said, "Nothing. The battery is dead."

Keith looked around the room trying to find something useful, but then his eyes rested on something. He approached the object which was a hunting knife that was engraved with the initials: MW. He picked it up and checked the blade. "What are you thinking?" Clementine asked.

"The blade is high quality, so we could probably use it to break the lock on that trunk right there." Keith said as he signaled to the large object on the ground.

"Good idea." Clementine said. The two went over and Keith stuck the blade in between the locking mechanism and the trunk and applied pressure. The metal groaned until there was a satisfying crunch sound that came from the lock being destroyed. Keith retracted the knife and offered it to the girl while he placed his hand on top of the trunk, "Here, you could use something sharp, just in case you have to do a quick kill."

Clementine accepted the knife with a smile and said, "Thanks, but I prefer flowers in the future."

"Yes, dear." Keith joked. "Flowers and chocolates, next time." Clementine giggled in response to the joke and placed her hand on top of the trunk. Before Clementine could make an attempt to open it, Keith continued, "So, what are you doing later on today?"

"Surviving, how about you?" Clementine asked.

Keith pondered for a couple of seconds and said, "Bugging you."

"You don't bug me." Clementine said. "You're interesting to listen to."

Keith scoffed and then grew rather serious. "You know, that night I saw you in the river, I took a big risk by saving you. I didn't know if you were dead or if you were corrupt with insanity, but I'm glad that I did save you. You're the best thing that has happened to me in a long time." Keith said as he placed his hand on hers.

"You're the best thing that has happened to me too." Clementine said.

The two looked at each other with a blush. Unable to take another minute of staring at each other, the two started to edge closer to each other until the door was opened by Alvin. The two quickly got away from each other, but Alvin raised an eye-brow. He knew what was going to happen next if he hadn't come in.

"I know Luke usually teases you two about this, but do know each other's boundaries, okay?" Alvin said with a slight smirk on his features.

"Yes sir." They both responded simultaneously.

Alvin smiled as he went over to the trunk and opened it. Clementine and Keith got up and looked inside to see two large cans of peaches and a stack of books. "I guess that man did have food after all." Alvin stated as he grabbed one of the cans and continued, "Man, screw Nick. Nick's lost a lot of his people but that doesn't mean he can just go around shooting up strangers."

"You heard what he said outside. He was just worried about us." Keith said.

"Yeah, but he needs to be careful in the future. I mean he straight up murdered that guy." Alvin replied. Alvin then looked to the can of peaches and smiled and said, "That's funny she looks just like you." Alvin then showed the can to Clementine so there could be a comparison. "Hey, Clem, Keith there's not a lot of food here and Rebecca well… she's eaten for two now. You think you can just keep this between us? I hate to even say it but… and I would never go against the group."

"Rebecca can have it. I won't say anything." Clementine said.

"That goes double for me." Keith added.

"Thank you, both of you." Alvin said. Alvin then went to the window and looked out to Nick. "It's a shame. Nick was a good guy; he still is a good guy. He's just losing it. God knows we aren't perfect… hell I'm happy that you two are with us."

Clementine and Keith smiled to the man in response. Alvin was about to leave when he looked out the window to check on Rebecca but received a shock when he saw several walkers heading towards the group. "What the hell is that?" Alvin asked. Clementine and Keith walked over to the window and both took a turn to see what Alvin was looking at.

"Walkers." Clementine stated.

"That gunshot must have alerted them." Keith said.

"Come on. We got to get everyone out of here." Alvin said and he opened the door. "We have a problem here." Alvin announced and he looked over to the group. However, they noticed the small herd as well and were walking over to the station house ready to move.

"Yeah. We saw it." Luke said. He then turned to the group and said, "All right, we're moving up." Everyone nodded in agreement and they all started up the mountain at a decent pace to avoid the oncoming herd.

**A/N: I like Kingdom Hearts a lot and Keith is kind of a reflection of me in some ways. Those way include being patient, liking Kingdom Hearts, and being a Christian. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

The sky grew gray with the oncoming storm and the lateness of the day as the cabin survivors climbed the hill to the top. Rebecca huffed as she struggled to climb the mountain to its summit. Meanwhile, Carlos and Nick looked across the walkway of the lodge awaiting any form of trouble whether it would be walkers or human beings. "Well? What are we waiting for?" Rebecca asked as she approached the two men.

"We have to be careful." Carlos said.

"Careful? We've been on the road for 5 days." Rebecca responded. "My back is done being careful."

Alvin walked down the walkway examining the windows and said, "It doesn't look like anybody is home." He looked at one of the fortified windows and pulled on it. "No good." Alvin said. "Nailed down tight." Alvin then got up and walked towards the entrance. "I'll check around front."

"I'll go with you." Carlos said as he followed his ally.

The other members of the group stayed behind. Nick was antsy and looked around with his hunting rifle at the ready as Rebecca and Sarah sat down, exhausted by the day's walk. Luke looked down the mountain side to see if there were any walkers coming towards the group as Clementine and Keith looked down the mountain to see the surrounding forests. "Well the climb wasn't the best, but you can't deny that view." Keith said. He then frowned and said, "You must be freezing with just that thing on." He indicated to her long-sleeve striped shirt that was underneath the t-shirt that she wore this last summer.

Clementine shrugged and said, "I am, a little."

"You should take my hooded sweater." Keith suggested.

Clementine shook her head and said, "No, you're going to need it. All you have on underneath is a t-shirt." Keith frowned as he realized that she was right. "But thanks anyway." Clementine said to the boy with a smile.

Keith smiled back as Luke approached the two and said, "Well it'd be good to know if anybody is back there following us." Luke said. "Could probably get a better view from up top." He gestured to the lift and then looked to Clementine and Keith and continued, "You'd have an easier time getting up there. Feel like taking a look?" Luke continued as both children looked at each other considering their options. "It would be like climbing up a tree house, just a very tall tree house."

Keith sighed and said, "This is going to suck." He then went up to the lift as Clementine and Luke followed him.

"I have the binoculars. I should go up there." Clementine said.

Keith smiled at her and said, "Okay, well, I'll catch you if you fall."

"That's real encouraging." Clementine joked.

"Why wouldn't it be? I caught you that time when you fainted from exhaustion." Keith said. Clementine shot a questioning glance at Keith and he continued, "It was when we first met Luke and Pete. I caught you before you hit the ground."

Clementine sent an appreciative glance to the boy. She then went to climb up the lift until Keith said, "Hey wait." She stopped and looked to the boy. He smiled to her and kissed her on the cheek. She immediately blushed and caressed her cheek. "That's for good luck." Keith said. Clementine smiled and nodded to the boy and she started to climb up to the lift.

Meanwhile, Luke stared at Keith wide eyed and rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. He was worried that Keith and Clementine were getting too close too fast. The silence at the foot of the lift was uncomfortable for the two survivors until Keith yelled, "There you go! You're almost there!"

Clementine finally made it to the top and yelled, "Made it!" A crow flew off from the lift, startled by the young girl's shout. Clementine reached the edge of the lift and searched through her backpack until she finally pulled out her binoculars.

She looked through them as Luke yelled, "Do you see anything?"

Clementine searched through much of the landscape, which was mostly trees, until she saw the bridge that the group passed earlier that day. However, there was something out of place. It looked like there were flashlights shining in an unorganized pattern "Wait!" Clementine yelled back. "I think I see something."

"What do you see?" Luke asked.

"I think I see lights." Clementine explained. Suddenly both Luke and Keith heard inaudible yelling that came from the walkway. Luke looked over to see his group arguing with another group, and he ran over to investigate, leaving Keith at the base of the lift as Clementine yelled, "Wait there is another!"

"Clem, climb down. Something's happening." Keith exclaimed as he looked at the two groups. Clementine immediately climbed down the lift and she and Keith approached the feud.

"Listen, everyone. Just stay calm." Luke said.

"Who are you? Are you trying to rob us?" An Indian-American woman asked.

"Excuse me, honey, but do I look like a freaking thief?" Rebecca snapped. Clementine and Keith kept advancing further towards the center of the commotion as their group and this new group continued to argue.

"Everyone just stay calm." A plump man in a red sweater said.

"Hey man, you calm down." Alvin shot back.

"Sarah get behind me." Carlos exclaimed.

"Just tell us who you are." The plump man demanded.

"We're not here to rob anyone. Put the gun down man." Alvin pleaded.

"F*** that." An unknown man said. Clementine perked up when she heard the voice.

"You know-" Keith tried to ask but Clementine ignored him and wrestled through the remainder of the group members who cluttered the way to the new group.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Luke exclaimed as he rose his arms in surrender.

Clementine finally had a good look of the man and her eyes widened in shock. She thought he was dead, but he was there standing right in front of her. "Please just do as he says." The Indian-American woman begged.

The man that Clementine thought was dead was Kenny. He looked over to her and back to the group for a quick second not noticing who she was, but then his eyes widened and he looked back to her and he started to lower his hunting rifle and his mouth opened very wide in shock of seeing her. Clementine pushed past Nick and Luke and said, "K-Kenny."

"Wait, you know this guy?" Luke asked.

"Clementine…?" Kenny asked.

Clementine's eyes softened and she ran to Kenny hugging the man as he hugged her back. They released each other from the embrace and Kenny squatted down to look at her at eye level. He placed a hand on her shoulder comfortingly as the plump man in the red sweater stated, "I'd take that as a yes."

"These people with you?" Kenny asked. Clementine nodded her head and Kenny stood up. "We can talk inside." Kenny told the group in a friendly tone of voice.

"Great, I just started dinner." The plump man said

"Are you sure you don't mind?" Carlos asked.

"It's going to storm soon." The plump man said. "Please come in."

The plump man in the red sweater led the way as Kenny and Clementine shot overjoyed glances at each other. The plump man opened the door for Kenny and Clementine as they entered. Clementine looked around the ski lodge with wonder and amazement. It had electricity as shown by the decorations on the Christmas tree and lights on the columns. The plump man joined alongside Kenny and Clementine and explained, "Kenny and Sarita have been staying with us for several weeks. Used to be a ski lodge obviously, so there is plenty of food." He continued as he walked up the stairs, "And believe it or not, we still get power from that wind turbine out front. We tend to keep the lights off at night to avoid drawing attention."

Kenny turned around to Clementine and began mock the man with a nagging hand gesture as the man continued, "But after we found this stuff in storage, we couldn't resist making an exception." Clementine giggled at Kenny's antics as Walter turned around. "Is something funny?"

"Oh nothing Walt." Kenny replied and walked up the stairs to introduce his friend to Clementine. "Walter here is one smart son of a bitch. He also makes a good can of beans." Kenny finished as he patted Walter on the back.

"Well why don't you two catch up while I get dinner started?" Walter suggested. Suddenly the cabin members entered the ski lodge, with the exception of Carlos and Sarah who were talking with the Indian-American woman outside. They all share Clementine's wonder and amazement to see the place had electricity. Walter interrupted their thoughts as he said, "Please, make yourselves at home. You can leave your things over there." He then gestured to the bench near the door. The group looked over but no one made a move to place their weapons or equipment on the bench.

"The hell we will." Rebecca shot back.

"Yeah, I'm holding onto my rifle, thanks." Nick said.

"You are our guests here, there's no need to worry." Walter assured them. However, no one still made a move to place their weapons on the bench.

Keith looked up to Clementine who smiled and nodded to the boy. He smiled back and he went over to the bench. "Hey Boy Wonder, what are you doing?" Nick asked as Keith laid down his slingshot on the bench.

"If Clem knows and trusts these people, then I know I can trust them." Keith replied as he took off his backpack and looked around it until he pulled out an 8 mm handgun. He unloaded the gun and took out the magazine to make sure the gun could not be fired.

The adults looked at him with wide eyes and Luke asked, "You had a gun with you this whole time."

"Yup." Keith replied. "I had one just in case, but I never needed it." Keith then pulled out his pocket knife and placed it near his slingshot and unloaded gun, while his backpack rested underneath his weapons. Keith then made a gesture for the adults in his group to follow. They hesitated until Luke sighed and he went over to the bench and placed his machete on the bench.

The rest of the adults followed as Sarah, Carlos and the Indian-American woman, Sarita, came in. "Dad look a Christmas tree!" Sarah exclaimed as she tried to head for it.

Carlos stopped her by placing a hand on her shoulder and said, "Not now, Sweetie."

"Isn't it great? We found it all in storage." Sarita stated.

"It's amazing." Sarah said.

Kenny smiled at the young girl and descended from the stairs. He placed his hunting rifle on the bench and nodded towards Luke who smiled and nodded back. Sarita smiled and said, "Good. Will you all please follow me? I'll show you where you can sleep." From there she gave a tour to Nick, Sarah, Luke, Alvin, Rebecca, Keith, and Carlos. Walter went back to the kitchen and tried to get something made for the new additions as Kenny and Clementine headed for the living room where a nice, warm fire was. They both sat across from each other as Kenny looked to Clementine with a smile. "Still wearing this dirty old thing." Kenny said as tapped the brim of Clementine's hat. "You know, I half expected Lee to walk up with you. You two were like two peas in a pod." Kenny then jumped back seeing Clementine look down sadly. "Ah, shit. I didn't mean… it's just hard to not think about him."

"He saved me." Clementine said somewhat sadly.

"I knew it." Kenny said proudly. "I knew he would. That guy had a fire in him, sure as shit." Kenny then looked down sadly remembering everything Lee did for him as a friend. "Hell… he was one hell of a guy. When my son… well he helped me through that. He took care of him… when I couldn't. I'll never forget that." Kenny finished his last sentence with more optimism.

"So where'd you end up?" Kenny asked.

"I was with Christa and Omid for a while… but then Omid…" Clementine tried to say but instead she choked up. She inhaled and exhaled slowly to avoid crying and continued, "I was with Christa for a while, but it didn't last…" She then sighed and looked to Kenny and smiled, "Then this boy found me and saved my life."

"Well then I'm sorry that you lost Omid and Christa but I'm thankful for that boy you mentioned." Kenny stated. "I'm sorry, darling. I wish I could have found you sooner."

"Where have you been?" Clementine asked curiously.

"Oh hell, everywhere, after Savannah." Kenny replied.

"How did you get out of there?" Clementine asked.

Kenny scoffed and said, "For some reason, I went back to try and save that shit bird, Ben. Then it turned into a damn cluster." Kenny looked off toward the fire distantly by the memory of struggling through several walkers and then turned back to Clementine, "Couldn't help the kid, but I made it out. Long story short, I got lucky, real lucky. Spent a long time alone after that. It uh…" Kenny then spaced out. He obviously went through some nightmare after Savannah, just like Clementine. "And then I met Sarita, thank goodness. Gosh, it's great to have you back!" Kenny exclaimed.

The said woman approached the two and asked, "You two catching up?"

"Clem, this is my girl, Sarita. Ain't she beautiful?" Kenny asked.

Sarita rolled her eyes at the antics of her boyfriend and said, "It's nice to meet you Clementine."

Walter then walked back into the living room after letting the pot boil in the makeshift kitchen and Kenny asked, "Hey Walt, where's Matthew? He still out there rootin around?"

"Of course he is." Walter replied. "Well I'll start dinner." Walter said and continued his walk to the makeshift kitchen.

The cabin group descended the stairs and Sarita approached them. "Carlos, right? Won't mind if I steal your daughter for a secret mission?"

Sarah perked up and looked to Carlos. "Stay inside, Sweetie." Carlos replied. The two then walked over to the Christmas tree and started to decorate it.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, actually, there's still a few supplies outside. We need to bring them in before the storm hits." Kenny replied. "Mind giving me a hand with that?"

"Sure." Luke said and he and Nick headed for the door.

"Clem, why don't you help Walt with dinner?" Kenny asked. However, it was more of a command as Kenny walked away.

Keith joined Clementine as they walked towards Walter who was cooking something. As they walked, Clementine smiled to the young boy and pecked his cheek with a kiss. Keith mirrored Clementine's reaction outside as he blushed and caressed his cheek. "What was that?" Keith asked.

"Oh, just a little thank you for outside." Clementine said playfully.

"Hey, I meant it. It was for good luck." Keith replied as they reached Walter.

He was stirring a concoction of some kind. The smell was unfamiliar to both children. He looked up and asked, "Hey Clementine, settling in well enough?"

"Yeah." Clementine said with a smile.

"Excellent." Walter replied. "And how about you… erm Boy Wonder?"

Keith chuckled and said, "Doing well. My name's Keith."

"Very good, nice to meet you." Walter said. "Want to help me prepare a little dinner?"

Clementine and Keith looked down into the large mixing pot and they looked at each other with a confused look. "What is it?" Clementine asked.

"Le Walter surprise. An autumnal legume salad with a peach roux." Walter replied.

"Okay, you've officially lost me." Keith replied. "And I thought Anatomy was tough to learn."

Walter chuckled and said, "It's peaches and beans. It's all we have." Walter then looked to the can and said, "Huh, striking resemblance." He then showed the can to Clementine. Clementine and Keith's eyes widened in shock at the can as Walter laid it back down. "Anyway, I can take it from here." Walter said as he lift the large mixing pot and left the makeshift kitchen.

Clementine looked to Keith and said, "They have the same food as that man in the station house had. There's one guys who is with them but isn't here. His name is Matthew."

Keith nodded and said, "So I heard, Sarita talked about him and Walter a little bit, but she didn't go into enough detail. We'll have to keep looking around to find out who that man on the bridge was. Let's just hope it wasn't Matthew."

Clementine nodded and the two started to walk around.

* * *

><p>"I haven't seen one of these since…" Clementine stated as she looked up at the tree as Sarah and Sarita continued to decorate it.<p>

Keith looked up at the tree and said, "Yeah… it feels like it has been forever…"

"Here Clem and… I'm sorry I never got your name." Sarita said as she gave Clementine and Keith an ornament to hang on the tree.

"It's Keith." Keith replied as he hung his ornament in an unoccupied space on the tree. Clementine followed having her ornament near Keith's.

"Well it's nice to meet you Keith." Sarita said and she looked to Clementine and said, "You knew Kenny from before. It must be incredible to see him again. When I met him… well he's so different now."

"So, how'd you meet Kenny?" Clementine asked.

"I found him holed up in an old restaurant, if you can believe it." Sarita replied.

"Holed up?" Clementine asked.

"You should have seen his beard then." Sarita chuckled. "Perfect." Sarita commented as she took a couple of steps back to examine her and Sarah's work. "Now all we need is the topper."

"We always put an angel on top of our tree." Sarah said.

"You know? My family and I never really celebrated Christmas, but we still liked the decorations." Sarita said.

Clementine then eyed the stairs and then walked towards them. Keith quickly followed her as Alvin, Rebecca, and Carlos were in the middle of an argument about Carver. "It's crazy. Why would they follow us this far?" Rebecca asked.

"We can't be sure." Carlos said. Clementine and Keith approached the adults but they continued to be wrapped up with the idea of Carver still following them.

"It has been a week man. We got to be out of the woods." Alvin remarked.

"We can't be sure." Carlos repeated. "They might be tracking us."

"Tracking? Who do you think they are, ninjas?" Alvin inquired as he panicked from the thought of Carver's men hunting them down.

"Well, they didn't pick up on my trail, so there's a possibility that we've lost them." Keith said.

"Perhaps." Carlos said doubtfully as he crossed his arms.

Rebecca noticed Clementine and said, "Clem, Luke said that you saw some people in the valley."

"People? All the way down there? How?" Alvin inquired.

"She has binoculars, genius." Rebecca mocked.

"I saw lights." Clementine said.

"Which way did they go?" Rebecca asked.

"Back into the woods." Clementine replied. Keith looked down sadly. He knew that the chase was going to come to an end soon and it may not end for the better.

The three adults pondered on the next move until Carlos spoke up again, "We can't take any chances. We leave at dawn."

"But we're safe here for tonight, right?" Rebecca asked.

Keith shook his head and looked to the woman. "We may not be. Maybe it's better if we move on."

"Right now?" Rebecca asked.

"Keith, come on, Rebecca is exhausted. She needs to rest." Alvin said.

"I understand, Alvin, but… my dad is persistent and he doesn't give up. He will stop at nothing to get Rebecca's baby and to kill me, so he has a clean past and a bright future." Keith replied as he looked down sadly.

"Clementine, you talked to that man, Kenny, right? What did he say? Is he and this group hiding something?" Carlos asked.

"They did say something about another man. I think his name is Matthew." Clementine said as she clutched her right arm.

"That doesn't seem relevant, Clementine." Carlos said.

"Look, I don't care what that guy said." Alvin said. "We're staying here for tonight."

"Just talk to the rest of the group. They trust you. See what you can find out." Carlos said to Clementine. "I'm going to go find Luke." Carlos then headed to the stairs and left the three.

Suddenly Rebecca started to rub her head and said, "Honey, I don't feel good."

Alvin got down to be eye level with Rebecca and asked, "Bec, what's wrong?"

"I just need something to drink." Rebecca replied.

"I'm on it. I'll be right back." Alvin said and he got up and went to the stairs.

Keith looked over to a small box near the stairs and looked inside of it. There were three ornaments for the tree, two of which were toppers: an angel and a star. "Hey Clem. I found our angel." Keith said. He then gave it to Clementine. She walked over to the tree and placed the topper on it.

Sarah looked up and smiled, "She looks so cool."

Sarita finished putting more ornaments on the tree and looked up. "Beautiful." Sarita remarked. "I used to love this time of year." Sarita then turned to Sarah and said, "You know now that your friends are here, this place is starting to feel like a real home."

Clementine looked over to Keith and the two smiled at each other. They descended from the stairs as Sarita said, "Matthew and Walter are amazing people. Honestly, it's dangerous to be this kind but they can't help it." Sarita then looked to Keith and Clementine and said, "Wait until you meet Matthew. He's a real character."

"When is Matthew coming back?" Keith asked.

He should be coming back soon." Sarita replied. She then looked over to Kenny who was helping get supplies into the ski lodge before the storm hits and back to Clementine. "Clem, I wanted to ask you… Does Kenny seem different to you? I don't know him before and well… I'm curious." Sarita explained.

"I haven't quite noticed." Clementine replied.

Sarita looked back over to Kenny with a questioning stare until Clementine continued, "Kenny has been through a lot, but he always has his heart in the right place."

Sarita looked back to Clementine and smiled. "Thank you Clementine."

"Well, you four have been busy." Kenny said as he approached the decorated Christmas tree.

"Kenny!" Sarita exclaimed happily. "Isn't it great?"

"It certainly is. Good job." Kenny remarked. Kenny then noticed Sarita going for some of the boxes and said, "I got it hon." Kenny said as he reached for the box.

"I think I can manage it, Kenny." Sarita said.

"I said I got it!" Kenny snapped and he took the boxes out of Sarita's grip and left the four.

"Did he always used to snap like that?" Keith whispered to Clementine.

Clementine shook her head and said, "No that's new. Maybe Kenny has changed."

"Kenny likes to play the gentleman, but let me tell you. When I first saw him, he couldn't lift a finger." Sarita said. Sarita momentarily looked down with a frown but immediately refocused with a smile and asked, "Why don't you see if your friends are ready for dinner, Clementine?"

Clementine nodded and she and Keith went upstairs. They walked up to Rebecca who continued to rub her sore head. "Are you okay?" Clementine asked as she gripped her right arm again.

Rebecca looked up and said, "Just got a little dizzy." Rebecca then looked down sadly and said, "I can't even take care of myself. How am I supposed to raise a child? I mean how can anyone?"

"It's possible." Keith said. "Think about it, Clem and I are still alive and we were all alone out there for a while. This baby is going to have the love and support of so many strong and caring survivors, on top of you and Alvin."

Rebecca smiled to the boy and said, "I think you're right. I can't believe there was a time where I didn't trust you Keith; I'm sorry for that."

"Don't be, you had every right to feel distrusting towards me." Keith said. "Besides, that's water under the bridge."

"I know it's going to be hard but I already feel a little less lonely, because no matter what happens, I'll meet someone new." Rebecca said happily. She then rubbed her belly and said, "She's kicking. You want to feel?" Rebecca then turned to look down on her stomach and said, "That food smells good, huh?"

"Can I?" Clementine asked. Rebecca nodded and brought her hands back as Clementine crouched down and placed her ear on Rebecca's stomach. She felt a bump and smiled as she looked back up to Rebecca.

"She's going to be a runner." Rebecca remarked happily. She then frowned and said, "It's not his."

Keith's and Clementine's eyes widened and Clementine asked, "Why are you telling me this?"

"I don't know." Rebecca replied. "I trust you for some reason. You look like you've had to keep some secrets before" Rebecca then placed a hand on her belly and continued, "If he finds out that it isn't his, he'll kill me. I don't know what to do. I can't believe I'm asking a little girl and boy for advice."

"He won't kill you." Keith said. "Even if that baby has some genetics from my side of the family, Alvin will still love him or her, because he loves you."

Rebecca thought of the child's words until she looked up to see Alvin with a glass of water and jumped. "There's my man." Rebecca exclaimed happily.

"You alright, baby?" Alvin asked.

"I'm fine, you big dope." Rebecca said as Alvin approached her.

Clementine got out of the way and walked over to join Keith as Alvin remarked, "We just need to get some food in you." He then turned around and said, "Thanks for staying with her, you two."

Clementine and Keith smiled and nodded as Walter could be heard from downstairs. "Well everyone dinner is served. Come on, let's eat." The sweet aroma of the peaches and beans intensified as the two walked down the stairs.

Clementine looked back to Keith and said, "That was very nice of you to tell Rebecca that."

"I only told her the truth." Keith said.

"Still it really helped her to hear that kind of encouragement." Clementine said.

Keith smiled to her and said, "I want to talk to you when we're done eating."

"Okay." Clementine said.

The two continued to walk down the stairs and looked on to see the cabin members sitting at the left table and ski lodge survivors sitting at the one on the right. Nick and Luke waved to Keith and Clementine come over at their table but then Kenny exclaimed, "Over here Clem."

The two children looked back and forth between the two tables and Clementine looked to Keith. "Which one should we sit at?"

"You choose, I'm comfortable with either." Keith replied. Clementine looked to both tables again before finally deciding to go over and sit with Kenny and his group. Keith tagged along and they both sat next to each other.

**...To be continued**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I want to thank everyone who has reviewed this story so far. Special thanks going to ZeroBullet0 and MagixBen1124. You've all been awesome.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

Luke shot a saddened look to Clementine for choosing the other table as Nick looked down at his food being equally sad that Keith chose a table full of stranger over his table.

Walter gave both children a bowl as Kenny looked to the boy. "Now hold on, kid. I don't exactly know who you are. Why don't you go to the other table with the rest of your group? All I wanted to see was Clem."

Keith was slightly surprised by the man's bitter words, but he stood his ground and said, "I'm with Clementine."

"Keith is the boy who saved my life, Kenny." Clementine explained.

"Oh okay, that changes things. Sorry about that." Kenny said as he started to relax. He then looked to the cabin survivors and said, "So Clem, we were just talking. What's the deal with the kid? What's his name… Luke? He in charge? You trust him?"

"Kenny please." Sarita pleaded for the man to calm down.

"Sarita, we don't know these folks." Kenny said.

"They seem nice." Sarita commented.

"Yeah, well gators seem nice too until they rip your damn arm off." Kenny said.

"Luke's a good guy." Clementine replied. "I trust him."

"Well alright." Kenny said as he looked to the group with a nicer stare. "That guy, Big Al? He said they were on the run."

"Some people are after them." Clementine said.

"Well, you don't have to worry about that no more." Kenny said. "They'll go tomorrow and you can stay here."

"Absolutely." Sarita agreed. "Honey, you stay here as long as you want."

"I have to admit; it would be nice to have a home again." Keith said.

Kenny looked to the boy questioningly and then sent a glare. "That offer only applies to Clementine. You're going on the road with them." Both children looked wide-eyed at Kenny surprised by what he said as he continued, "Now look, I'm very appreciative that you saved Clementine, but I don't know who the heck you are and I don't know if it's safe to trust you."

"I was the first to leave my weapons and equipment at the door. What else do you want from me?" Keith inquired.

"I'm not staying if Keith is forced to leave." Clementine said.

"Oh yes you are." Kenny spat. He then turned to Keith and said, "I have my reasons for you to leave."

"Your friends can stay too, Clementine." Sarita said.

"The hell they can." Kenny snapped.

"Honey." Sarita said in a pleading tone.

Suddenly, Walter and Sarita got up as they finished their meals and Luke and Nick went over to the table that Kenny, Keith, and Clementine were at. Luke looked to Clementine with a saddened look for her decision of choosing to sit with Kenny instead of him and his group. In response, she looked down sadly.

"I hope you enjoy the food." Kenny said, ruining the tense atmosphere.

"Oh yeah…" Luke said somewhat speechless. "It's great. Thank you."

"It's peaches and beans." Kenny explained. "Great for nutrition. Not too great on the way out though." Kenny then busted up laughing at his own joke. Keith stifled a chuckle as everyone else looked to Kenny disgusted by the inappropriate joke.

Clementine looked to Keith as he stopped chuckling and said, "Sorry, I'm a boy. We usually get a good kick out of that."

Clementine rolled her eyes in response as Kenny continued, "So it's Luke and Nick? Luke and Nick, you two seemed to be quite the match."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nick inquired.

"I'm just saying you two look like good friends, that's all." Kenny replied calmly.

"So what was your plan here? Hold out for the winter?" Luke asked.

"Actually, we were thinking of moving on. Somewhere up north." Kenny said. He then looked to Clementine and asked, "Ever heard of a place called Wellington?"

Clementine perked up at the mention of the alleged safe zone that she and Christa were heading to. However, Luke, Nick, and Keith were confused by the mentioning of the safe zone.

"Wellington? What is that?" Luke asked.

"A place." Kenny said bluntly.

"What kind of place?" Luke inquired.

"Yeah, I heard of it." Clementine said. "Christa and I were heading up that way."

Kenny smiled towards Clementine and continued, "It's supposed to be a big camp up near Michigan."

"Michigan?" Nick inquired.

"You have a hearing problem, kid?" Kenny snapped. "Yeah, Michigan. Think about it: fresh water, lots of land, and cold ass winters so that the walkers get slow."

"Sounds like a lot of bullshit." Nick shot back.

Kenny jumped at the man's arrogance and said, "Listen, Vanilla Ice, I don't know what your deal is but you are more than welcome to take off in the morning."

"Well that sounds just fine by me." Nick snapped. Luke shot a glare towards Kenny finding his impatience and arrogance to be unnecessary.

"What's the deal with these guys, Clem?" Kenny asked Clementine.

"Hey, f*** you buddy." Nick snapped.

"Please don't fight." Clementine said.

Both men immediately stopped their minor squabble by the child's request as Walter walked up to the table. "Gentlemen, please, there is no need for this. We've all had a long day." Walter said. "Now please eat."

Kenny was still angry and looked to Clementine and said, "Pass me that can, Duck." Clementine jumped in surprise by the fact that Kenny called her by his late son's name. Upon realizing his mistake, Kenny jumped. He was surprised that he even said that. However, Luke and Nick were confused as they did not know who Duck was.

"Duck, who's Duck?" Luke asked. Kenny didn't reply as he looked down sadly.

"Leave him alone, Luke." Clementine warned. In turn, Luke nodded understandingly.

"Hey Clem, I still need to talk to you about something." Keith said. "Can we talk alone?"

"Yeah." Clementine said with a nod. The two children left the table as Clementine looked over to Kenny with a sad look. He was obviously still fighting the horrible memories of losing his family.

* * *

><p>The two were at the top of the stairs and Keith looked around to make sure no one was there. "I'm sorry about that back there. There was a lot of tension at that table, and what I have to say is really important."<p>

"It's fine. Now, what's going on?" Clementine asked with a sweet and kind voice. She always had a sweet voice but she was noticeably chipper around Keith. Her voice was accompanied by a wonderful smile which was something Keith had never seen her do.

Keith smiled and he took the young girl's hands and said, "I'm not good with words, so I'll just say it. Clementine, when we were on our own, I thought of you as a good ally and friend. You're cheerful, kind, beautiful, and very caring. But now, I see something else when I'm with you. I see you more than a friend. Clementine, I love you, and I want us to become girlfriend and boyfriend." Keith's checks grew red from admitting his crush on the girl had expanded into something that many people didn't think of at his age.

Clementine's cheeks were also red and she said, "I-I love you too, Keith. I-I didn't know if I would ever find someone who is fun, caring, and loving, but here you are." Tears started to flow down from her eyes and Keith proceeded to hug her. She hugged back tightly as she shed tears of joy for the first time in a couple of years.

After several minutes of the two hugging, they looked at each other and got closer until finally their lips touched. The kiss between the two was soft and loving. For a split second, the world around them stopped and they achieved a peaceful moment in a doomed world. They breathed their love into each other in that kiss. That kiss; hard, but soft; fiery but cool.

The moment ended as they separated from the kiss. Both blushed and looked to each other as they huffed to catch their breath.

"I love you." Clementine said.

"I love you, too." Keith said. They then instinctively joined hands and started for the stairs until Keith stopped. Clementine looked behind to see him and he said, "There's one thing I really need you to do."

"I'll do anything for you." Clementine said.

"Are you saved?" Keith asked. "Are you a Christian? I know that in a situation like ours that one's faith can shatter, but…"

Clementine stopped Keith by putting two fingers on his mouth and said, "I am a Christian. My mom, dad, and my former guardian, Lee, were all Christians."

Keith smiled and Clementine removed her fingers to allow the boy to talk. "I'm glad that there are still people out there who have not lost faith in Christianity. Love is a rare commodity nowadays, but I know that I'm loved by Jesus Christ." Clementine smiled and nodded in response. Keith smiled and reached for his backpack but it wasn't there. "Oh nuts." Keith said. "My Bible is in my backpack. I need to go get it. I always read something from the book of John before bed."

"I didn't know you had a Bible." Clementine pointed out.

"Yeah, how about I read you some of John real quick before we both hit the hay?" Keith suggested.

"I'd like that." Clementine replied. Keith smiled and he headed downstairs.

Keith walked over to the lobby until he heard Luke's voice. "Hey Keith." Keith jumped slightly and looked over to Luke who was behind a column. "Hey, don't freak out." Luke said to calm the boy. Keith approached Luke as Luke walked out from behind the column, "Hey listen, I got to tell you something. That guy on the bridge was Walter's friend." Luke then pulled out a photo of the man that was shot by Nick and Walter standing side-by-side and gave it to Keith to look at. "You see, I knew something was off, so I asked Sarita about their friend. And now they're all worried that he's not back yet."

Keith looked down sadly and sighed, "What are we going to do?" Keith asked.

"I don't think Walter knows yet, so we're going to have to keep this quiet. I mean who knows what the hell he'd do if he found out." Luke said.

"No, that's a bad idea." Keith said. "We have to tell him what happened. He may be angry and hurt, but that will be a far cry from him finding out while we knew the whole time and never told him."

"Keith, I know that you always want to do the right thing, but you got to think of our situation." Luke said. "Rebecca is very close to having her child and I don't think Sarah and Clem have another day's walk left in them." Luke sighed and said, "Now then do you still have that knife? Because if it was Matthew's, and Walter sees it, he's going to put two and two together."

"I gave it to Clem." Keith replied. "I think it's in her backpack with the other stuff."

"Well, okay, go get rid of it and I'll try to run interference with Walter, and oh… keep an eye out for Nick." Luke said.

"I'm right here." Nick said as he approached the two. "What's up?"

"Oh, uh… nothing man, just wanted to see if you were okay." Luke said.

"Hey man, I'm fine." Nick said. He then ruffled Keith's hair and continued, "I almost got to be since this one is failing in his duties to keep the group motivated."

Keith pushed Nick's hand away and said, "I'm not a dog, you know?"

"Yeah, well you almost look like one with all this shaggy hair." Nick said.

"So yeah, you good?" Luke asked Nick.

Nick grew serious and his smirk disappeared. "You know man, I am really regretful that I shot that guy. If I knew that he didn't mean us any harm, I would have never raised my gun at him."

Keith looked down sadly and said, "There is something you need to know."

Luke shook his head at Keith as an indication that showing Nick the photo would be a bad idea. "Hey if there's something going on, I want to know." Nick said.

"No, Nick just go off to bed." Luke insisted.

"So what? You don't trust me now?" Nick asked somewhat sadly.

Keith looked down and handed the picture frame of Matthew and Walter to Nick. Nick took a look of the photo and his eyes widened in horror. "No, shit! Dammit!" Nick exclaimed.

"Shh… Nick shut the f*** up man." Luke exclaimed.

"I-I can't man. I can't." Nick said as he continued to panic.

"Do not freaking blow it, Nick." Luke said coldly.

"Blow it?" Nick inquired. "It's over. I have to tell him, Luke."

"WHAT, NO! You can't Nick! Are freaking nuts?" Luke asked.

"I have to. I can't live with that on me." Nick said.

"I agree. It's the right thing to do." Keith said.

"Nick I'm warning you. This is suicide." Luke said.

"I'll live with that." Nick said and he walked away to find Walter.

Luke sighed and said, "Keith, I need you to go do that thing I asked you to do, alright?"

Keith nodded in response and he walked towards the stairs to retrieve the survival knife that he gave to Clementine, earlier that day. He reached the bottom of the stairs and grabbed Clementine's backpack. He rummaged through it, but couldn't find Matthew's survival knife. "Well where is it?" Keith pondered. He looked over to the entrance and saw Walter standing outside, looking over something that was in his hand.

Keith walked outside somewhat frightened by the way Walter was acting. Once again, the atmosphere did little to ease the tenseness of the situation. The wind's howl was almost as horrible as a walker's. Additionally, the wind caused the turbine to pick up speed. Keith now could see what Walter had in his hands. It was Matthew's knife!

"Walter…?" Keith asked concerned for the kind man.

"I always liked this knife." Walter stated as he smoked a cigarette. He then unsheathed the blade and said, "I gave it to Matthew when all of this started. I know he's dead. Who did it? Was it that kid? What's his name… uh, Nick? Heard him talking earlier about shooting a man." Walter paused and said, "I could see it… I could see it on his face! I wasn't sure then… but now… I know what happened."

"It was us." Keith admitted sadly. "It was our fault."

"Holy shit…" Walter said sadly. "I don't feel good."

Keith looked sympathetically to Walter and said, "You lost someone who you cared about. It's normal to feel that way. I felt the same way when my dad killed my mom…"

"Did Nick shoot Matthew?" Walter asked ignoring Keith's advice.

Keith looked down sadly and said, "Yes." In response to Keith's reply, Walter gripped the knife tighter.

He huffed out some smoke from the cigarette and turned to Keith. He dropped the cigarette and stomped on it and asked, "Is Nick a good man? Or is he like everyone else?"

"Nick's a good guy." Keith replied. "He… He's just going through a rough time…" Keith paused for a second and then continued, "He saved my life." Walter looked back to the wind turbine as the door creaked open and Nick joined alongside Keith.

"He was always going out there alone." Walter explained. "I told him something like this would happen. But he wouldn't listen. No Matt always knew best."

"Walter…" Nick said as he approached with one hand extended to the man. "I'm so sorry for what happened to Matthew. H…H-He had a gun and I was afraid that he was going to hurt my friends. I'm sorry man, if I would have known, I would have never aimed my gun at him. I'm so sorry."

Walter looked to Nick tearfully and asked, "Do you have any idea what you have done to me? Do you have any idea?"

"I-I'm sorry, Walter. I really am." Nick said.

"Nick is a good guy, Walter." Keith added. "He could have cared less for me and Clem, but he cares about us. Please, Walter, please forgive him."

Walter looked down to the knife and examined it before tossing it aside.

Suddenly, the wind picked up and the turbine started to spin out of control. The noise caused by the turbine was quite loud which caused the three on the front of the ski lodge to look up at it. Everyone, except for Rebecca, Sarah, and Alvin walked outside and observed the turbine.

"Walt, what's going on?" Kenny asked. However, Walter didn't respond and instead looked down sadly as he continued to mourn the loss of Matthew. The wind picked up even more and Kenny looked over from the front of the ski lodge and said, "The storm's got it spinnin outta control. That sounds gonna draw walkers. We gotta shut it down now!"

Carlos turned to Nick and said, "Nick help me carry the guns." Nick nodded and the two went inside to retrieve any firearms that were in the ski lodge.

"Guns?" Sarita inquired.

Meanwhile Clementine looked to Walter worriedly and then to Keith. "Is Walter okay? What's going on?"

"Our suspicions were confirmed." Keith stated. "That man on the bridge was Matthew."

Clementine shuddered upon receiving the bad news and looked to Walter sympathetically. "Aw… poor guy."

Carlos and Nick returned with several guns in hand. Both Clementine and Keith accepted handguns as Sarita accepted a hunting rifle. "That damn thing's a dinner bell!" Kenny bellowed and ran towards the wind turbine. Everyone followed him to the turbine as the wind continued to pick up speed.

* * *

><p>Just as Kenny reached the control box, there was a loud explosion nearby. Everyone looked to where the sound of the explosion came from and Luke asked, "The hell was that?"<p>

Keith looked over towards the ski lodge and saw all of the light shut off. "Must have been the transformer." Keith said

"Dammit!" Kenny replied. "I gotta check it." Kenny then looked over his shoulder towards the group and said, "I could use a hand."

"I'll go with you." Luke said.

"I'm going too." Sarita added.

"No! It's too dangerous!" Kenny said. He then looked to the rest of the group and said, "The rest of you get this thing shut down." He then ran towards the blown transformer which must have been in the forest. Luke followed him as the rest of the group looked at the control box. Sarita opened it and looked inside to see all the switches and fuses.

"Does anyone know how to do this?" Carlos asked. He then looked to Sarita who only shrugged, which indicated that she had no clue on how to shut down the machine. "Great." Carlos scoffed.

"I can do it." Clementine spoke up.

"Okay, we'll watch your back." Carlos said. "Nick scan the trees with me." Carlos then walked over and joined Nick, leaving Clementine to figure out the control box.

Clementine brought out her zippo lighter to use as a light to make the switches and fuse visible. She then looked around the box until she found a key. She grabbed the key and placed it in the main switch and pressed it in. With that done, the turbine started to slow down until it came to a complete stop.

Keith looked to Clementine and smiled, "Nice work. How'd you know to do that anyway?"

"Christa taught me. This isn't the first wind turbine that I have ever seen." Clementine commented.

"Something ain't right." Nick said as he continued to scan the tree line. The sound of gurgled growling and snarls filled the air and soon everyone could hear the volume and frequency of the growls and snarls increase. It was as if the wind turbine was being surrounded by walkers.

"We don't have much ammunition." Carlos said as he raised his gun.

"That's not good considering how many there are." Keith said as he followed suit and raised his gun.

"We got to get back to the lodge." Nick said. Suddenly, the growling intensified from behind the group and they turned to see walkers approaching them from the rear. "They're behind us!" Nick exclaimed. Carlos took aim with his handgun and shot a nearby walker. However, the walkers from behind proved to be persistent and continued towards the small group which was now Sarita, Nick, Carlos, Keith, and Clementine.

Sarita, Nick, and Carlos shot from behind as both Clementine and Keith watched on, waiting for the adults to come up with a plan. However, both went into action when they heard a walker approach them from behind. Keith quickly raised his gun and shot the walker dead with a bullet passing through its skull. It slumped to the ground but both children knew they were still surrounded.

"We have to go." Clementine said.

Keith nodded and looked up to see Nick. Nick fired at a couple of walkers but was backpedaling. "Nick's in trouble." Keith said.

"Well, come on, let's help him." Clementine said and the two ran over to a rock for cover. However, when they got to cover, Nick ran off as a herd got closer to him. The herd soon turned its focus on the two children and started to head for them.

Clementine and Keith raised their guns and started to shoot at the herd. One-by-one the herd's numbers began to decrease. Each shot fired by the children left another walker to slump on the ground.

"I missed this!" Keith shouted so he could be heard over the gunshots.

"Missed what?" Clementine shouted so that she could be heard.

"Using a gun." Keith said as he shot the last walker in the skull. "That's all of them." He then unloaded his gun and said, "Good thing too, I got two bullets left."

Clementine mirrored Keith's movements and checked her gun as well. "That's better than me, I got one bullet left."

"Somebody help me!" Nick exclaimed. The two rushed towards the scene where Nick was struggling with a walker.

"Nick!" Clementine exclaimed. Keith drew his gun and tried to aim, but the constant wrestling and the angle that he was at made it hard for him to make a precise shot. Clementine looked to Keith and said, "Come on Keith, you got shoot that walker."

"I can't get a good shot." Keith said. Suddenly a shot rang out and the walker jolted back and collapsed to the ground.

Nick huffed and looked over to Keith appreciatively, however, Keith merely frowned as he looked at his gun and shook his head. Keith didn't shoot the walker! Nick was confused until he noticed Clementine looking towards someone or something behind Nick. Nick followed her line of vision and saw Walter lowering his gun. Nick sent an appreciative stare to Walter to which Walter nodded.

Walter then ran off to help Carlos who was struggling with several walkers. Walter shot at a nearby walker as Carlos did the same. Meanwhile, Clementine, Keith, and Nick approached them. The two looked out to the large horde and Carlos exclaimed, "Clem, Keith… get inside, go!" The two complied and raced for the entrance of the ski lodge while Carlos and Walter shot at the remaining walkers.

They ran inside and went up the stairs to the main floor. "Clementine, Keith, are you both alright?" Rebecca asked upon seeing the two children. The two children ran up to Rebecca worriedly as automatic gunfire could be heard from outside.

"What the hell…?" Alvin asked. The five inside the ski lodge approached the large window to observe outside as more automatic gunfire erupted. Walkers fell left and right, and before any of the survivors knew it, the horde of walkers were dead. However, a threat far worse than the walkers came towards the group.

A man headed towards the group with three other people holding assault rifles. "Howdy folks." The man said with a smirk as his compatriots surrounded the group outside.

"Carver…" Rebecca said frighteningly.

"Dad…" Keith said equally frightened to see the man. Clementine looked to Keith worriedly as he stared at the man who he called, 'Dad.'

Meanwhile outside, Carver approached Carlos and asked, "Where's Rebecca?" In response, Carlos spat in his face. Carver wiped the saliva off of his face and said, "Nice to see you too." He then punched Carlos as hard as he could.

Carlos yelped upon impact, but regained his footing. "Dad!" Sarah exclaimed and she ran out of the ski lodge to his aid.

"Sarah!" Rebecca called after the teenage girl, but it was too late. Sarah ran to her father and hugged him. Carver smirked as he looked to the ski lodge.

"Inside." Carver commanded his group. They obliged and aimed their weapons towards the group to move. They obliged but then one of the members in Carver's group went up to Walter and he recognized her. It was the same woman that he helped out earlier and gave some supplies to. "It's you!" Walter exclaimed.

The woman, Bonnie, looked down sadly. She knew that she wasn't doing the right thing, but still said, "Keep moving."

With that, they all started to move for the ski lodge. Rebecca, Alvin, and Clementine started to move. They headed for the stairs to get to the second story, but Keith remained at the window and only huffed.

"Come on, Keith." Clementine pleaded.

"No, you go. I'll stay here and confront my dad." Keith said. "It was something that I should have done a long time ago." He got up from the window and headed towards the entrance.

However, Keith was stopped by Clementine who hugged him. "Please don't. I don't want you to die." She released him as he stopped resisting.

He turned around and kissed her on the lips. The kiss this time was quick and he separated from her. "I'm not going to use my gun to confront him, now go hide."

Clementine nodded and she ran for the stairs as the doors to the ski lodge opened up. Keith huffed and he headed for the stairs to block their way. He looked down to the group and saw his father leading the group. Upon seeing Keith, Carver smirked. Johnny and Bonnie took up the rear and made sure no one would escape. Nick, Carlos, Sarah, Sarita, and Walter were all held captive, and Troy had his gun aimed at Keith with an intense glare aimed at the boy.

…**To be continued.**

**A/N: Yes, now are you all satisfied that we have finally reached a shipping of Clementine and Keith. Call it whatever you would like. Keithentine, Cleith. I prefer the latter though. And as you can tell Keith is in a bit of trouble right now.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

"I got you now, motherf*****!" Troy seethed as he went towards the boy, his finger against the trigger.

Carver held out his arm and stopped Troy. Troy grumbled as Carver turned to Keith. He noticed the gun in Keith's hand and his smirk widened. "So what's your plan, boy?" Carver asked. "Are you going to shoot me, now? Show me what the world has taught you while you were out there."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Troy inquired. "If you die-"

"Then my community will have a future, and my boy will be its leader." Carver interrupted Troy. "Heck, shoot Troy too. Make him an example to everyone."

"The f*** you're going to let him shoot me!" Troy exclaimed.

Keith slowly approached Carver who was at the bottom of the steps. Meanwhile, Troy aimed his gun at Keith and said, "No dumb moves, f*****."

Keith looked up to his father whose smirk was starting to fade and he said, "Well, what are you waiting for? If you kill me, you save your friends right here." Carver then gestured to the captured group members behind him.

Keith looked down sadly for a second and back to his father. The tension in the room was thickening as each second ticked by until Keith adjusted his grip on his gun and pointed the handle of his gun to Carver. "But I won't be able to save you." Keith said. Carver's smirk fell and he looked disappointed at the boy. "I came to you to surrender and buy time. By now, Rebecca, Alvin, Luke, and Clementine are miles from here."

Carver huffed with a tang of anger and hissed, "Tie him up." Troy approached the boy and snatched the gun out of his hand.

Troy shot a glare which told Keith to turn around to which the boy obliged and Troy started to tie him up. "A f****** waste of time." Troy hissed. He finished and then shoved the muzzle of his assault rifle in the back of Keith's head which made the boy lose his balance. Keith yelped as he hit the ground to which Troy exclaimed, "Get the f*** up asswipe!"

"Troy enough man!" Johnny exclaimed.

"Yeah take it easy!" Bonnie added.

"You know what, shut the f*** up the both of you or I'll-" Troy went to raise his gun but stopped when Carver's revolver was pointed at his skull.

"Troy, I brought you along because you show results, but right now you're more of a liability than help." Carver informed Troy. Carver then got closer to Troy and said, "Straighten up or I'm going to put a bullet in your useless head." Troy nodded and went up the stairs. Carver shook his head disapprovingly and looked to Bonnie and Johnny. "One of you two help my boy up and examine this place.

Johnny and Bonnie nodded and the group headed for the stairs. Bonnie helped Keith up and the captured members of the ski lodge to the wall adjacent to the Christmas tree. "Look at this place." Bonnie remarked as she observed the ski lodge.

"Bill's going to hate it." Johnny said. "Those windows over there are going to be a huge vulnerable spot."

"Yeah. Speaking of which could you go cover those windows?" Bonnie asked.

"Yeah I got it." Johnny replied and he went to the window.

Meanwhile, Troy tied everyone else up as Carver looked around to see where Rebecca was. Finally he huffed and went to Keith. He cupped the boy's chin with his hand and asked, "Where's Rebecca?"

"I already told you, she's miles from here." Keith replied.

Carver shook his head and asked, "Why defend a woman who could give two shits of what will happen to you?"

"A better question is why do I still love the man that murdered my mom and step-dad? The answer is simple… because you're my dad, and nothing you can do or say will change that." Keith answered with a smile.

Carver raised an eyebrow at him and released the boy's chin and got up. "Well seeing that you won't answer me, I'll have to use a different approach." Caver then got up and headed over to Carlos.

He grabbed Carlos by the arm and proceeded to punch him with a hard hit to the stomach. Carlos wheezed as he fell to the ground. "Dad!" Sarah exclaimed.

"Listen, I'm only going to ask you one more time, where's Rebecca?" Carver said angrily as Carlos tried to regain his focus.

Carlos looked to Sarah and said, "Sarah look at me. It's going to be okay." Suddenly Carlos was pulled back by his hair by Carver. Carver then grabbed one of his hands and pulled back a finger to where it was broken.

Carlos screamed in pain as Sarah looked on in horror exclaiming, "No!"

"Rebecca?" Carver shouted. "Rebecca, our baby deserves to be raised in a place of safety. I know you are out there, with Alvin, Luke and the girl." Carver then released Carlos from his grip and to which Carlos whined in pain from the newly broken digit. "This is real simple. If you want this over quick you all play nice and show your faces."

"Don't hurt my dad, please." Sarah pleaded tearfully.

Carver quickly turned his attention to Keith and said, "So what's it going to be boy? Are you going to tell me where they are, or do I need to take this to the next level?"

Keith looked down sadly indicating that he wasn't going to tell Carver anything. Carver chuckled and said, "Fine. Have it your way." He then grabbed Carlos's arm again and broke another finger. Carlos yelled in pain again

"DAD!" Sarah yelled. "Just stop! Don't hurt my dad please!"

"I'm afraid you are pleading with the wrong person." Carver replied. "If Keith tells me where Rebecca is then I'll stop."

Sarah turned to Keith with pleading eyes. However, Keith could only look to Sarah sadly and shook his head. "Please Keith, you have to make him stop!" Sarah pleaded tearfully.

Having adjusted to the pain of his broken digits, Carlos glared at Carver and spat, "F*** you. Shoot him! Somebody just shoot hi-"

Carlos stopped mid-sentence as Carver pulled him back and placed a knife to his throat. Keith's eyes widened and he looked to his father who had a smirk on his face. "So what's it going to be Keith Blake? Are you going to let Carlos die or are you going to tell me what I want to know?"

Keith closed his eyes hard and sighed. He opened them and was about to respond when Rebecca shouted, "Bill stop!"

Carver looked up to the second floor and smirked. "Ah." He said and he threw Carlos to the ground. Carlos grunted as he hit the ground as Sarah cried over how close her father came to death.

Keith looked to the stairs and saw Alvin, Rebecca, and Clementine heading for the group. Rebecca went up to Carver and he caressed her cheek. "Are you alright?" Carver asked.

"F*** you, Bill." Rebecca snarled. But if anything, Carver only smirked as Rebecca went to join Alvin. Troy tied up Clementine and Alvin as Rebecca was permitted to stand due to being late in her pregnancy.

"Please, you don't want to do this." Walter pleaded with Bonnie as she looked over the newly captured people. "Just let these people go."

"Just shut up." Bonnie spat. It was evident in her voice and face that her guilt was starting to overwhelm her.

Carlos grunted in pain as he was forced to sit down next to Clementine. He looked to her and asked, "Clem, can you reach my hands?"

Clementine looked to his broken digits and shook her head. "Someone will see me. Just be patient; Luke and Kenny are still out there."

Suddenly a gunshot sounded and busted through the glass. The shot went straight through Johnny's skull and he landed on the ground dead.

"Kenny…!" Sarita said somewhat worriedly.

"Johnny!" Keith exclaimed. Keith knew Johnny from Howe's. Unlike many who worked for Carver, Johnny was actually a decent and kind man. His death would definitely not do any good for the group.

Carver, Troy, and Bonnie quickly went into action. They raised their guns up towards the group to prevent them from getting excited. "Don't move!" Bonnie barked. The three then took cover behind a couple of columns and tried to see who the mystery marksmen could be. However, the storm and dark night made it impossible for them to make out anything. "I can't see them!" Bonnie exclaimed.

"Watch them." Carver commanded and he went to Walter. He grabbed the man and placed him in a chokehold. Walter grunted as he tried to breathe as Carver kept pushing him forward. Carver then pushed him to the ground and fired point-blank into Walter's skull.

"No!" Carlos exclaimed. Sarah continued to cry even louder than before and even started wailing.

"Walter!" Clementine and Keith exclaimed in unison.

"That was for our man!" Carver shouted to the mystery sniper. "Now I didn't want to do that, but you ain't leaving me much option. So here's what's going to happen. I'm going to march another one of your friends out here and I'm going to put a bullet in the back of their head." Sarah wailed even louder out of fear of being next for Carver to shoot. "Or you can give up now, your choice."

Suddenly another shot was fired which hit the column that Carver was hiding behind. Carver merely shrugged and went up to Alvin. "Hi, Alvin." Carver said as he dragged the man to his feet.

"You motherf*****." Alvin spat.

"Alvin!" Rebecca exclaimed as she tried to stop Carver, but she was stopped by Troy who aimed his gun at her. "Bill no! Tell him to stop!" Rebecca shouted. "Kenny stop!"

"Dad please, it doesn't have to be this way!" Keith pleaded.

Carver ignored both and kept his gun to Alvin's head. "You remember George, Alvin? You see, I do. I remember a guy who was your friend named George. I remember when you murdered him in cold blood. And why? Because you didn't like me?" Carver then stopped walking and continued as he kept his revolver at Alvin's temple. "You could have lodged a complaint. You could have… well you could have been civil about it."

"Bill no! We'll do whatever you want!" Rebecca pleaded.

Alvin turned to Rebecca and said, "I love you, Bec."

"BILL PLEASE!" Rebecca exclaimed.

"Kenny, Luke, don't shoot!" Clementine shouted.

Carver looked back to Clementine and said, "Ah." Realization hits him as he realized that using the girl would stop the mystery sniper, whether it would be Luke or Kenny. He threw Alvin to the ground and went up to the group. Keith's eyes widened as Carver approached Clementine.

Carver grabbed Clementine by her shirt collar and forced her up. She gasped at the grab momentarily until Carver picked her up and placed the barrel of his revolver to her temple. She whimpered while Caver kept a grip on her. Keith's jaw dropped momentarily as Carver explained to the mystery sniper. "We can do this all night. Is that what you want?"

"NO!" Keith shouted. "Dad, please, don't hurt her! I LOVE HER!" All of Keith's captured allies gasped upon hearing Keith's confession. However, they were not alone, as Bonnie also gasped and now looked on in horror as Carver kept his grip on the girl threatening to fire a bullet in her skull any second.

"Keith if there is anything that you should learn about life, it's that love is nothing more than a lie. Take your mother for instance. I loved her, but then I found Rebecca and we all know how that turned out." Carver explained as Clementine continued to whimper in Carver's grip.

"Dad, no!" Keith pleaded. "I'll do anything you want, just don't hurt her please!" It was now Keith's turn to cry desperately since there was almost nothing he could do. However Carver didn't listen at this point. Finally the doors to the ski lodge opened and everyone looked over to see Kenny raising his hands in surrender. Bonnie went over and tied him up and shoved him to join the others. Keith sighed in relief, thankful that Kenny surrendered and didn't get Clementine killed.

Kenny took Walter's spot as he glared at Carver. "Where's Luke?" Carver inquired. No one answered as Carver continued, "Finally cut and run, huh? Why am I not surprised?" Carver then approached Carlos and said, "I warned you. I warned you not to follow him. And look where he's led you." Carver then walked away from the group and looked towards the door front. He then turned back to the group and said, "But you're safe now." Carver said as he approached Rebecca. "We're going home now, as a family." Carver then eyed the bulge of Rebecca stomach which was her baby. Alvin glared at Carver as Carlos looked down sadly, realizing that he was going back to the community that he hated. Sarah shared her father's sadness as she whimpered in fear of what would happen next. Clementine looked to Keith to which the boy shot a reassuring glance towards her.

"Alright. Round them up." Carver told Troy and Bonnie. "We're heading back to camp. With that, one-by-one, each person from the group was hoisted up and forced to leave.

Keith looked back to Clementine until Bonnie pushed the boy forward. "Move it, Keith!" Bonnie hissed. Keith reluctantly obliged and soon all that was left in the ski lodge was Walter's body.

**Several Hours Later**

It had been a long march out of the woods, but finally the group was in the back of the van. During the long trip back to Howe's, Sarah had to quickly use the restroom to which Clementine accompanied her. Keith warned Clementine that Troy was an evil and heartless man and to be careful around him. Keith, of course, was not wrong. But now they were all back in the van bed. Uncomfortable silence filled the area as everyone but Kenny had given up on escaping at this point. The van jerked from hitting a couple of bumps until Kenny spoke up, "Alright, we got to do something. Come on. Anyone got anything sharp? Anything? We need to get these bindings off." Kenny then looked to Clementine as he found that no one else was willing to assist him. "Hey! Clem, help me find something that will get these off. Anything sharp that can cut these…"

"And what good is that going to do?" Rebecca asked.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?" Kenny inquired. "We got to get out of here."

"Like what?" Clementine asked.

"What do you mean by like what?" Kenny snarled, his impatience and anxiety being directed at Clementine. "Something sharp! Anything that can help! A f****** I don't know. Something"

"Okay, think stupid." Keith said bitterly. "Even if you manage to cut those bindings off, you're still stuck in here with us."

"I don't want to hear it from you, asshole! The way I see it, this is all your fault!" Kenny snapped. "If it wasn't for you, that asshole dad of yours would not have taken us." Keith glared at Kenny to which he ignored and continued, "We're in a f****** precarious position here. We got to do something about that!"

Settle down, Kenny." Carlos spoke up. "They took everything from us. We have to keep a level head."

"He's right." Rebecca said. "You don't know Bill like we do."

"Bill?" Kenny inquired. "This whole time it has been Carver, Carver, Carver. And now it's Bill?" The van hits another bump from outside. "Oh, I see what it is. Y'all are just getting a ride home, aren't ya? That's what's going on here."

"Say that again." Nick barked.

"You're delusional." Keith said. "You think we wanted this to happen?"

"I'd stay out of this, assholes." Kenny said sending a glare towards Keith and Nick.

They returned the glare as Rebecca explained, "You don't understand. He's different… he's worse."

"The f*** are you talking about?" Kenny snarled.

"Rebecca's right." Keith said sadly. "Back at the ski lodge, he wanted me to kill him…"

"I-Is he going to kill us?" Clementine asked.

"No, he's going to use us as labor for his community, but after that… I don't know." Keith explained.

"He's a f****** psychopath!" Kenny exclaimed.

"You have no idea what you are dealing with!" Carlos exclaimed.

"Oh he gave me a pretty damn good idea back at the lodge, and I don't intend to sit around here and let that happen to the rest of us!" Kenny barked back. The van hits another bump as Kenny continued, "I'm trying to help!"

"And I'm sure Walter really appreciated that help!" Carlos criticized Kenny.

Kenny looked down sadly at the mention of his friend's name as Sarita said, "That's not fair. You're blaming him for the actions of a madman!"

"I'm pointing out that, regardless of intent, there are consequences to rash actions! Something that he is misreading as capitulation!" Carlos spat.

"I don't know what the f*** you are saying but I know it is bullshit!" Kenny exclaimed angrily. "We have to do something!"

"Kenny…" Sarita pleaded.

"You can't reason with him." Rebecca said in surrendering tone.

Kenny looked over the van and said, "Oh shit! Jackpot!" Kenny then got up and headed for a metal ribbon that had corroded loose.

"Sit down." Carlos commanded. "You're going to get us all killed!"

Kenny squatted down in front of the corroded ribbon and started to rub the bindings against it. As he rubbed against the ribbon, the rope started to snap from the sharp piece of metal. "Y'all don't know what you are talking about. We get cooped up in a kennel like a bunch of f****** dogs and it's over!"

"You don't know that." Rebecca said.

"Yeah? Well, I've been in this situation before. You ever been a prisoner?" Kenny asked as he continued to cut his bindings.

"We've all been prisoners, why do you think we left." Carlos said.

"Stop fighting!" Clementine exclaimed. "Please…"

"Clem's right." Keith said. "We can't be at each other's throats. I think the best thing we can do now is wait until we get into Howe's, develop a plan inside, and then escape after we're one hundred percent sure that the plan will work."

"I agree with that plan." Carlos said.

"Well I don't." Kenny snapped. "How do you know that there is going to be a way out when we get there?"

"Every structure has its weak points." Keith explained. "Dad's going to put us all on labor duties which means we'll be up close to the buildings and we can find a weak spot easily. And besides, Luke and the rest of these guys managed to escape the first time, so who says we can't do it again."

"I agree." Clementine said with a smile towards Keith. He smiled back and the two looked into each other's eyes.

"Alright, now we're talking." Kenny said as he ignored Keith's suggestion. His binding finally came off and he stood up. He used one arm to balance himself in the back of the van as they hit another bump.

"What are you going to do? Carver is going to be on the other side of that door with ten people." Carlos explained.

Sarah suddenly started to whimper as the tension and anxiety of the fighting were starting to overwhelm her. "There, there, baby. Everything is going to be fine." Rebecca soothed the teenager.

"At this point, maybe Luke is the only hope we have." Carlos said.

"If he was going to do something, he would have done it by now." Kenny spat.

"Who knows what he's dealing with." Rebecca said. "Anything can happen out there."

"I'll tell you what happened." Kenny said. "He abandoned us."

"You don't know that." Nick said.

"I know he's not here." Kenny said.

"He may not be around, but he wouldn't just leave us behind." Rebecca said.

"That guy is a flake. I could tell the second I laid on him." Kenny snapped.

"Luke will help us." Clementine said to Kenny.

"Oh yeah? When? After that crazy f**** killed us all?" Kenny bellowed at the girl. She reacted by staring in fear of him.

"You need to take it easy." Keith said. "Snapping at Clem is not going to help us at all."

"I didn't ask for your opinion asshole!" Kenny yelled at Keith. Kenny then looked to Clementine regretfully and said, "Look, Clem…" Suddenly there was another bump which rocked the van. This bump was different as the van rocked more.

"We're close." Carlos said.

"Alright, let's do this." Kenny said.

"They have guns." Rebecca said in an attempt to stop Kenny one last time. "What exactly do you expect to do?"

"I'm gonna punch the first sonuvabitch I see. Then I'm going to take his gun and use it to shoot the next sonuvabitch I see." Kenny replied.

"Just sit down." Carlos commanded.

"You're going to get yourself killed." Keith said. "Just stop and think."

"Shut it, both of you." Kenny barked. "This ain't your call." Kenny then looked to Clementine and said, "Hey just… if something happens, just help out, okay? Don't, you know, get yourself hurt but any help'd be good." The van hits another bump which is followed by the van's sirens sounding loudly, indicating that it was backing up. "Hey Clem, look at me. You trust me right?"

"Kenny, please just…" Sarita pleaded. "Just listen to them. They know him."

"It's a bad plan, Kenny. I agree with what Keith wants to do." Clementine told Kenny.

Kenny was shocked by Clementine's choice and asked, "What the f*** is wrong with you? I thought you were strong Clem!" She merely ignored his angry yell and looked to Keith hoping to find reassurance.

Keith smiled back in response as Kenny released an irritated sigh and turned to the door. "Alright, everyone read-" Kenny started to say but then the van slammed into the something from outside.

"Kenny!" Sarita exclaimed as he fell to the ground, hitting his head off the floor. Sarita ran over and checked on him. "Kenny, are you okay?"

"Is he okay?" Rebecca asked.

"I think so." Sarita replied.

"Oh…" Kenny moaned as he returned to consciousness. "What hit me?"

"It's probably for the best." Carlos commented.

"Damn brakes ain't working for shit!" Troy spat from the other side of the door as the door was lifted up. In front of the door stood Troy, Tavia, and Bonnie, each holding an assault rifle.

"Alright, up and at em!" Tavia said. Everyone got up in response to Tavia's request and started to head out of the door until there was only Keith, Clementine, and Kenny left.

Troy looked to Kenny and his eyes widened in anger. "The f***? How'd you get your restraints off? C'mere." Troy demanded.

Kenny obliged and he, Keith, and Clementine headed out of the van. Meanwhile, Carver could be heard over the PA announcing, "We've got some familiar faces back with us tonight." Troy closed the door to the van as the three left and went into the community. "Now, I understand some of you are confused as to why we'd bring some of these people are back when they left us as they did." The captured group was surrounded by Bonnie, Troy, and Tavia.

"I think I got an idea." Tavia commented. Keith sent a glare towards Tavia and continued walking.

"It might not come all at once." Carver continued over the PA. "But time will heal these wounds, so be patient with them until it does…" Bonnie opened a set of double doors and they continued to walk through what appeared to be a hardware store.

"Howe's." Keith said as he looked to Clementine. "Home, sweet home."

Carver once again continued to talk over the PA. "…And take solace in knowing that they're here to help us make this home a better place." Clementine looked around and noticed several guards looking at the group with glares but once their eyes fell on her, Kenny, and Sarita, they stopped glaring and only looked to the three confused. But then they looked to Keith, and they appeared to be sympathetic.

"They look real sorry for what happened to you." Clementine told Keith.

Keith looked up and made eye-contact with a few of the guards. "Maybe." Keith said. "My mom was well-known in the community so it was a major loss to the community as a whole. For now, I wouldn't trust anyone from within these walls except for the other prisoners."

"All these feelings you have of anger…betrayal….hate… they're all valid." Carver said over the PA. "No one needs to forget what they did… but we have to find it in our hearts to forgive them." Carver was now visible from the PA booth and he looked down to his son with a smirk.

Keith sighed and ignored his father's smirk. "Look how much food they have…" Clementine said surprised by the shelves filled with food.

"I hope you ain't say what I think you're saying." Kenny said.

"Dad's always had an impressive stock pile of food. He's got almost as much food as firepower." Keith explained.

"Come on, we need you for something." Troy told Carlos.

"Can't it wait until morning?" Carlos asked. "We're all exhausted."

"Just come the f*** on." Troy said bitterly.

Carlos sighed and he followed Troy over to talk to Vera as Sarah said, "I need him. I need my dad. He-He takes care of me." Sarah, Tavia, Clementine, and Keith stopped as Troy walked back over and gestured them to move on. Having no choice, the three children kept moving with Tavia and Troy bringing up the rear.

"It's alright, he's going to come back." Keith reassured Sarah.

"When?" Sarah asked.

"We don't know, but he will be back." Clementine said.

Thanks, you two." Sarah said. They finally reached a garage door as Bonnie unlocked the padlock to the courtyard, which now acted as a prison.

"Make sure y'all are off the fence." Bonnie warned. "Bill can see if you're messin with it."

They all nodded and Bonnie opened the garage door. They all entered the courtyard which consisted of a fire pit and lawn chairs that surrounded the fire pit. Next to the fire pit were a couple of dining tables and furthest from the fire pit was plywood which acted as bedding. "Thanks Bonnie." Nick said.

"Yup." Bonnie said and the she followed the group into the courtyard

Troy and Bonnie took everyone's bindings off and Troy said, "Y'all better get some rest, cause there ain't going to much for ya tomorrow. You're going to be working hard."

"That's for you." Bonnie gestured to the cot that was adjacent to the garage door.

"Yeah, it would be." Rebecca said with a glare. "F****** Bill. Leaves me out in the cold, but at least I will be comfortable"

"Hey guys." Someone familiar said.

Rebecca looked to the man and exclaimed, "Reggie!" She gasped upon seeing him and went up to the man. "I'm so sorry!" Rebecca exclaimed as she hugged him. "I'm so sorry." They separated from the hug and Rebecca saw that he had lost his left arm. "What happened to you?"

"This could have been worse. Trust me." Reggie assured Rebecca. "I'm lucky to be alive."

"Reggie got bit by a walker, shortly after you guys left." Keith explained to the former cabin survivors. "A guy named Mike was able to amputate his arm and saved his life."

Reggie smiled to Keith and said, "Hi Keith, so what's going on? Did your dad send you back here to spy on us?"

Keith shook his head sadly and said, "No, I'm in the same boat as you. I'm a prisoner now."

"Prisoner is not exactly the right word, Keith." Reggie scoffed "Besides, you aren't going to be back here for very long. No way, Erin's going to let Bill do that."

Keith was more downhearted by the mention of his deceased mother shook his head. "Reggie, my dad killed my mom, and I ran away after it happened."

"Oh." Reggie said sadly. "Keith, I'm so sorry. I never got the news about that."

Tavia then ran up to Alvin and said, "Alvin, Bill wants you in his office."

"What, why?" Alvin asked.

"Don't make this difficult. It's too late for that." Tavia spat.

"No, please!" Rebecca pleaded.

"It's okay, Bec." Alvin reassured his wife. "Just get some rest. If he wanted to do something to me, he would have done it by now. I'll be fine" Alvin then turned to Tavia and said, "Let's see what he wants."

They then left and Clementine sent a glare towards Tavia. "She's mean." Clementine stated.

"Yeah, she is cold and insincere. She's only nice if she wants to wrangle you up in this mess." Keith explained

"Hey, Reggie." Troy said and he approached the man.

"Oh… hey Troy." Reggie said somewhat reluctant to talk to him.

"Don't go f***** up now!" Troy spat. "Bill's real close to letting you out of here. You make sure everything stays nice and quiet out here tonight, and I'll be sure to let Bill know just how helpful you were."

"Yeah, you can count on me. Thanks Troy." Reggie replied.

"Don't mention it." Troy said and he and Bonnie left the courtyard, closing the garage door in the process.

… **To be continued.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

Kenny, Sarita, and Clementine looked to Reggie who looked to the three with a questioning stare. "Oh right. Let me introduce you. We were with them when we got caught." Rebecca explained.

Reggie smiled and he went to greet the newcomers. "Hi, I'm Reggie."

"That's Sarita…" Rebecca introduced the Indian-American woman.

"Hi." Sarita greeted the man.

"And that's Kenny." Rebecca continued.

"Hi there." Kenny said with a smile.

Reggie smiled to the two but then noticed Clementine and asked, "Hello, who are you?"

"I'm Clementine." The girl introduced herself.

"Otherwise known as Keith's girlfriend." Rebecca said with a smirk.

Keith and Clementine rolled their eyes at Rebecca, but Kenny was extremely shocked, since he didn't hear Keith's confession back at the ski lodge. He glared at Keith and grumbled, "I f****** knew this was going to happen. I think it might be best that we keep you two apart."

"Kenny!" Sarita exclaimed.

"I'm not going to let Clementine date a boy who has a psychopath for a dad!" Kenny snarled.

Reggie backed away noticing how the situation was getting extremely tense. Meanwhile, Rebecca and Nick glared at Kenny for his unkindness.

"How about you f*** off!" Nick barked.

"Stay out of this asshole." Kenny snapped.

"Kenny, you can't just tell them what to do." Rebecca said to Kenny.

"The hell I can't. Now that I found Clementine, I'm going to protect her from anything and that includes this asshole kid who has only got one damn thing on his mind." Kenny replied as he glared at Keith.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Clementine snapped. Everyone looked at her shocked by her outburst. "I know you think he's just some piece of crap, but I love Keith! You're not my dad, so you can't tell me whom I can and can't date! So leave us alone! All you've done is distrust him and treat him like crap! JUST STOP!"

She huffed as she calmed down. Keith's initial surprise turned to worry as he placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Sarah, Sarita, and Rebecca remained shocked by the girl's outburst since she always managed to keep a calm and leveled head in tense situations. However, Kenny looked on angrily at the girl and snarled, "How dare you? You think you can talk to me like that?" Something finally snapped in Kenny and he slapped Clementine to the ground.

Clementine gasped and cried out in pain as she hit the ground. Upon realizing what he had done, Kenny looked to Clementine shocked that he had hit her as Clementine looked to Kenny surprised by what he did to her. "Kenny!" Sarita exclaimed.

Keith got down and placed his arms around Clementine protectively as Kenny said, "Aw Clem, I-"

He was interrupted when Rebecca and Nick got between him and Clementine. "I think you've done enough." Nick snarled.

Kenny looked down in defeat and started to walk away. Sarita looked worriedly to Kenny and followed him to make sure he was okay.

Meanwhile, Clementine's shock turned into sadness and she started to whimper. The fact that someone she cared about would hit her devastated her. Rebecca crouched down in front of the two with sympathetic eyes. Keith released Clementine from his grip and allowed Rebecca to take over.

Rebecca nodded and hugged the girl. "It's okay, baby." Rebecca soothed the child. "Sh… it's okay." Clementine cried for several seconds, trying to control her tears but to no avail. "Sarah, could you help me get her up. We're going to take her to that cot." Rebecca gestured to the bed that Carver had prepared for her.

Sarah nodded and the two helped Clementine to her feet. They then escorted her to the cot as Nick, Reggie, and Keith looked on sadly.

Nick looked over to Kenny and glared at him. "Motherf******." Nick spat.

"It seems there is a lot of tension with you guys." Reggie said.

"Yeah, most of that tension if not all is coming from Kenny." Keith said. "It's like he's an expert at making grudges against people, even people who are considered his allies."

"Can you guys save it for the morning?" An angry exclamation was heard from one of the plywood beds. A lean man who wore a gray and black sweater, blue jeans, and black shoes looked to the group with a slight glare and continued, "Some of us have to get up early in the morning."

"Who the f*** is that?" Nick asked.

"Mike." Keith said. "The same guy who saved Reggie's life."

Nick nodded as Reggie yelled back, "Yeah, sorry about that." Mike only grumbled as he used the pillow to cover his ears as Sarah came back over from comforting Clementine.

"Is Clem alright?" Keith asked.

"I-I don't know. I mean she's not hurt and she is calming down now that Rebecca is looking after her." Sarah explained.

"She was just surprised and hurt that Kenny would hit her." Nick concluded.

Keith then noticed a woman over by one of the dining tables. He looked to her with an intrigued look and said, "Reggie, who's she?" Keith gestured to the table where the woman sat. "I don't recognize her." She looked back over to Keith with a glare to which Keith shrugged off. She wore a brown leather jacket, a light blue pair of jeans, and black combat boots.

Reggie looked over to the woman as she got up from the table and headed for one of the plywood beds. "Oh yeah, her. Okay, so she's f****** weird." Reggie explained. "They found her sneaking around outside of the camp covered in guts and like the grossest shit."

"Ew…" Sarah shuddered at the thought of Reggie's details.

"Freak." Nick muttered as he stared at the woman. Keith looked back over to Clementine and Rebecca and noticed that Clementine was asleep on Rebecca's shoulder. Rebecca herself was rubbing the girl's arm comfortingly. Nick followed Keith's line of vision and said, "Rebecca always did want a girl."

"I know how it must look, but… it really is not that bad here." Reggie explained.

"Reggie." Nick said.

"No, I'm serious!" Reggie exclaimed. "Where else are you going to food like we have? We've got the canned stuff and now with the greenhouses coming along we've got fresh food. The building's getting more and more secure all the time… mostly through forced labor, but that's only temporary. They've even gotten the solar panels working. When was the last time you've had electricity, huh?"

"We actually came from a place powered by a wind turbine." Sarah said.

"Came' is not exactly the right word. I'd say abducted would fit better." Keith remarked.

"Yeah, I agree with Boy Wonder." Nick said.

"Look guys, it's not a competition." Reggie said. "I'm just saying that it's not as bad as you think. We're building something great here. A real community and Bill is making it happen."

Nick and Keith looked at each other with a confused look until Keith looked to Reggie and asked, "Did my dad brainwash you or something?"

"What? No!" Reggie exclaimed. "I made mistakes and Bill had every right to kill me, but he didn't and instead he's giving me a shot at redemption."

"That doesn't make up for what he has done, Reggie." Nick growled. "He played a part in what happened to my uncle."

"Pete… he's gone?" Reggie asked being shocked and saddened at the same time.

"This place is a prison, Reggie." Keith said rather coldly.

"Well that is quite is a negative attitude." Reggie scolded Keith.

"No, he's right, Reggie. We aren't staying here for very long. If anything, we're going to do everything to escape from this hellhole. If that means we burn down the walls and kill everyone here, then that is what it will take." Nick said with a scowl.

"No, listen guys!" Reggie pleaded with the three. "Bill is really close to getting back in the group and once that happens, I can do a lot more to help you guys get comfortable."

"Reggie, we don't want to stay here!" Nick exclaimed. "If anything we want to destroy this place so that we don't return to it."

Reggie sighed and said, "Guys just please don't mess this up for me. I've worked really hard to get to this point. Will you please try to not cause too much trouble for me?"

"I'm not making any promises, Reggie." Keith said coldly as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Same." Nick said. Nick eyed Clementine and Rebecca and then looked down to Keith and said, "Go ahead and join Sarah at the fire, I'm going to go get Clem."

Keith nodded, and he and Sarah went to the fire pit. They were joined by Sarita who had exhausted all of her option to calm Kenny down from the earlier incident. Reggie sighed sadly and said, "Well that went about as well as planned… I should have made a plan." He then walked to the fire pit.

Nick approached Rebecca and crouched down to be eye level with the woman. "She's asleep." Nick whispered with a smile.

Rebecca smiled and whispered, "I know." She rubbed the girl's arm and sighed. "I forgot Kenny wasn't in the lodge when Keith confessed his feelings for her. I feel as though this is my fault."

"It's not." Nick said and he sighed as he looked down sadly. "It was my fault. I should have saw that coming, I mean I'm supposed to protect them… her and Keith…"

Rebecca place her free hand under his chin and lifted his head to her smile. "Look at you." She said proudly. "When we were at that cabin, you were just a reckless boy, but now you're a real man. If Pete could see you now, he would be so proud of you."

"Thank you." Nick replied with a smile. "You don't know how much that means to me." He then looked to the resting Clementine and said, "I can take her. You're going to need to be rested up for tomorrow." Rebecca nodded and Nick got up. He placed an arm under Clementine's back and another under her knees, all the while having her head positioned on his chest. Impressively, she didn't stir a bit as he carried her from Rebecca's cot to one of the plywood beds. He placed her on the plywood bed and went to the fire pit.

Keith looked to Nick and smiled appreciatively for his kindness towards Clementine. Nick smiled back but then asked, "So what do you think Boy Wonder? Do you think that there are going to be many openings along the courtyard?"

Keith shook his head and said, "I'm afraid not. If anything, my dad had this area especially fortified to prevent escapes.

Suddenly the garage door opened up. Everyone looked over to see Carlos walking into the courtyard with Troy escorting him.

"Dad!" Sarah exclaimed happily and she ran up to hug her father.

"Alright, the rest of you go the f*** to sleep." Troy barked. "I'm shootin the first of y'all that I see wonderin around before sun-up."

Troy then headed for the garage door as Nick yelled, "Hey, where's Alvin? Hey, I'm talking to you!" However, Troy ignored him and slammed the garage door down. "Motherf*****." Nick muttered.

With that, Sarita, Nick, Carlos, Keith, Sarah, and Reggie went to their own plywood beds and laid down. Keith laid down between Clementine and Nick. He looked to Clementine somewhat worriedly but then he turned to Nick as Nick said, "You know, I wish we would have gotten along with each other sooner. I feel like I have lost so much time, and Pete, I hope he knows what's happening so he could be proud of me."

"Clementine told me what Pete's dying words were." Keith said.

Nick's eyes widened in shock and he asked, "Wh-What were they?"

"He said that he loved you and he wanted Clem to look after you, but if anything, it's been the opposite, you've been looking after her… and me." Keith said.

Nick smiled and he looked up to the sky. "Go ahead and get some sleep, Boy Wonder. We're going to need every bit of strength tomorrow."

Keith smiled back and said, "Sure thing, Batman."

The two then allowed sleep to take them and what must have been hours of sleeping felt like minutes.

**Morning**

Clementine felt someone nudging her. "Hey wake up." Keith said as he continued to nudge the girl awake. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked to him with a smile to which he returned the smile. She needed the extended sleep that she got last night. She was noticeably chipper now.

However, Troy didn't see her wake up and grumbled. "Alright that's it; you're taking too long." Troy then approached the two and continued, "Get out of the f****** way and let me wake her up, which is what I should have done to begin with."

Keith sent a glare at Troy and said, "She is up, moron."

"F*** you." Troy spat.

Keith turned to Clementine and said, "Come on. Dad usually gives us a lecture before anything else."

Clementine nodded and Keith helped her to her feet. The two then walked over as Troy sent a glare at the two of them. They, of course shrugged him off and joined the group as Carver started his lecture. "There's been increased activity along the fence so be mindful when outside the walls." Troy walked up and joined Tavia as they glared towards the group. "The herd's moved closer as of this morning, but that still doesn't necessarily mean we'll be hit. Know that we're monitoring the situation." Carver then adjusted his focus to a new topic and started to explain, "Now… there might be some folks who are sore about what happened… at how things went. That's all in the past now. Some of you are new to our community, some of you are members that went astray. But know that you can find redemption here… forgiveness… by proving your worth through what will undoubtedly be hard work."

Keith rolled his eyes at his father's lecture as Carver turned to Reggie and said, "Reggie, you're nearly back in. Keep following the path, and we'll welcome you back with open arms."

Sarah noticed Clementine next to her and she asked, "Hey you okay?"

Carver looked to Sarah with a slight glare and then continued, "I'll let Reggie be an example to you all-"

However, Carver was interrupted slightly as Sarah continued, "We were worried about you last night."

"I'm okay, Sarah." Clementine said. "Thank you for your concern, but we got to listen right now."

"Are you sure? We can talk about it if you want." Sarah said. "I mean I-"

"CARLOS!" Carver shouted angrily which caught everyone's attention.

"Yes?" The doctor asked.

"Your child seems to be in need of correction." Carver said. Keith winced as memories flowed of all of his 'corrections' provided by his dad.

"I'm sorry, I-" Carlos began but he looked to Sarah and said, "Sarah a-apologized to Mr. Carver."

"Sorry." Sarah said nervously. "I'm sorry sir."

"No, no. That ain't going to cut it." Carver said. "I can't have this kind of behavior on day one of your reform. You discipline her now, Carlos. Hell, I would never let Keith Blake get away with this kind of behavior, I would beat his ass for it." Carver said as he turned to his son.

"How do you propose that I-" Carlos began to ask but Carver interrupted him.

"One good smack across the mouth should do it." Carver said. He then glared towards the frightened teen and said, "It'll make her think twice before opening it up again." He then looked to Carlos and said, "Go on, we'll wait."

Everyone, except the heartless guards looked to Carver in surprise, even Reggie was shocked to see Carver act so cold and heartless.

"Well, I'm not sure with my hand that I can-" Carlos started to say as he raised his hand with two broken digits.

"Well, that's why you got two hands, Carlos." Carver interrupted the doctor once again. "Come on. And not some namby pamby thing, alright?" Carver went up to the doctor and continued. "A good hard smack. Otherwise, Troy here will do it for ya." Carver indicated to the heartless guard behind him. "He can be… overzealous." Carver then turned to Troy and asked. "Is that the word?"

"If it means that I'll smack the shit out of her, then yeah." Troy said with a smirk.

"It's my fault, too." Clementine exclaimed.

"Hey! No one's f****** talking to you!" Troy snapped as he got closer to Clementine only for Carver to stop him with a hand gesture.

"Unless, you want one of what she's about to get, I'd pipe down, missy." Carver said threateningly.

"Dad, just let her off with a warning." Keith pleaded. "We just got here, and-"

"Shut your f****** mouth Keith Blake, or I will discipline you as well!" Carver bellowed. Keith looked down and stayed quiet as Carver looked back to Carlos. His eyes glared with an icy cold stare that told the doctor to do as he was asked.

Carlos looked down sadly and obliged as he stood in front of his daughter. Sarah shook obviously afraid of being hurt by her own father. "I'm sorry dad. I'm so sorry." Sarah said tearfully.

"Close your eyes honey." Carlos said sadly. "It's only going to sting for a second." Sarah looked down sadly feeling as though that she disappointed Carlos. Carlos accompanied his daughter being reluctant to hurt her.

"Do it." Carver commanded after several seconds of hesitation. Carlos sent an apologetic stare at Sarah which was followed up with a hard smack across her face. Sarah wept from the hard hit as both Clementine and Keith cringed. Clementine especially since the same thing happened to her last night, with the only exception being that Kenny wasn't forced to hit her.

Sarah continued to weep to which Carlos instinctively approached her and said, "I'm sorry, Sarah."

"Stop!" Carver snapped. "You are not coddling that girl anymore. Let her sit there and think about what she's done." Carver then turned to Troy and said, "Troy, get Carlos to his post. Everyone else should have their assignments. It's time to get to work."

Troy went over to Carlos and smirked as he looked over Sarah. "Damn, you really did knock the shit out of her doc."

"Shut up, Troy!" Nick snapped.

"Everyone get to work!" Carver exclaimed.

Clementine looked to Sarah sadly as Keith said, "We're working in the armory, I'd imagine."

"That you are." Tavia said. Keith rolled his eyes upon seeing Tavia. She ignored his gesture and said, "Follow me." She then headed for inside the warehouse with the two children following her.

Both children stopped when they heard an exclamation, "Soil, coming up." It was followed by the churning and breaking of wood.

A couple of bags of soil landed left to them as they heard Kenny snap, "Damn this thing."

"Oh shit." The woman from last night spat.

"Clementine! Keith!" The two ran into the warehouse upon hearing Tavia bellow out their names.

* * *

><p>"Who are these two?" A teenage girl asked as Keith and Clementine continued to walk with Tavia.<p>

"She's one of the new people." A young woman explained. She then looked to Keith and looked to the boy sympathetically. He ignored her gaze, not wanting her sympathy. "The boy is Keith Carver." The woman continued.

"Wait, Bill's son?" The teenage girl asked.

"That's right." The woman said. "They were with Carlos and Sarah and-"

"Ugh not Sarah." The girl complained as she turned back to the woman. "I wish she'd stay gone."

"She's had a hard time, Becca." The woman said.

Clementine looked back to the two as they continued their conversation. "So have we." Becca said as she sent a glare towards Clementine. "But, we're not sitting on the ground crying like babies."

Clementine went back to following Tavia and asked, "Who are they?"

"Shel and Becca." Keith said. "Shel is nice enough but as you could tell, Becca can be very bitter and mean."

Tavia led the two children to a metal door and said, "Go on inside. Bonnie's waiting." The two obliged and Keith opened the door to where they could see Bonnie with two lawn chairs set up around an ammo box.

Bonnie gestured them to sit with her and she said, "Hey, I guess you're starting your day with me." The two nodded and took a seat as Bonnie grabbed a couple of empty magazines and handed one to Keith who sat closest to Bonnie. "We're loadin magazines." Both Clementine and Keith started to place bullets within the magazines as Bonnie looked to them happily saying, "That's it. You got it."

They continued to load the magazines for several seconds until Bonnie said, "I suppose that I owe you an apology… I wasn't truthful when I came across y'all at the lodge… and I was shown with kindness I never would have expected from a group of strangers. But now… folks are dead… and I can't help but feel I'm to blame. But the plan was for no one to get hurt."

"Mistakes were made on both sides. Let's just be thankful that it didn't get worse…" Keith said sadly. He closed his eyes tightly as his mind drifted off to the horrible memory of Carver holding Clementine at gunpoint. He shook his head to refocus and nodded indicating that he was okay.

"Keith's right. If I would have known that Kenny was outside about to shoot. I would have stopped him." Clementine said. "It's not your fault."

"That's big of you two, but I know what I did. And I ain't proud of it." Bonnie said as she continued to load the magazine as did the two children. "The plan was if I was the one that found everyone, I would control it. Keep everyone safe… but that ain't how it went."

"You should know by now that my dad will always control the situation, especially when you let him." Keith said.

"I know and I'm so sorry." Bonnie said in a pleading tone. "I know that it doesn't account for much, but it's all I can offer right now."

Keith sighed as Clementine looked to him for his own decision. She then looked to Bonnie with a smile and said, "I forgive you. It's not like you intentionally tried to get us killed. You had good intentions, but others got in the way."

"Yes, exactly." Bonnie said happily. She then frowned and looked to Keith who was now looking up at the two. "Well, how about it, Keith?" Bonnie asked. "Can you forgive me?"

"Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other, also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either." Keith phrased and he looked up with a smile. "I forgive you."

"Wh-what was that?" Bonnie asked.

"…Luke 6:29, right?" Clementine asked after pondering for a couple of seconds.

Keith grinned and said, "You're amazing."

"Well then, I guess I now know why you two are a couple. You almost have the same mindset." Bonnie said as she continued to load the magazine. Both children smiled towards each other and joined Bonnie in loading the magazine. "So how was your first night in the yard?"

"You mean my first night in prison." Clementine scoffed.

"It ain't a prison… think of it as a work release." Bonnie said.

"You call it what you want to call it and we'll call it as it is." Keith said. "Bonnie, that yard is a prison and you know it."

Bonnie looked down sadly and continued, "You know, I was supposed to go… when Luke, Carlos, and all of em left, I was planning on leaving too. When Luke approached me about it, I-I thought that he was crazy. I mean we got food, electricity and shelter here."

"And a psychopath spearheading the whole thing." Keith added as he continued to load his magazine.

"You know Bill wasn't always like this Keith. His obsession with Rebecca… it drove him off the deep-end." Bonnie said sadly.

"Either way, it doesn't matter. I'm going to have to fix this one way or another." Keith looked down sadly and said, "I should have tried to fix it the first time. Maybe then so many people could have been spared from this nightmare."

"Anyway, I justified my reason of not going by saying that it was easier to fix something broken than to start all over." Bonnie explained to the two. "Take this situation with the herd… that's the type of thing that rips a community apart. He keeps things in line… he has a lot of stuff figured out."

"Nobody is safe here with Carver around." Clementine said.

"You're safe as long as you stay on his good side." Bonnie said.

"I would if I knew where it was." Clementine mumbled.

"I mean it ain't easy keeping a group this big fed and protected. I don't envy that position. Figured that'd make anyone stressed. I'm not defending what he did back at the lodge. That was…" Bonnie remarked. "…I'm alive because of him and that's just a fact."

"It sounds like you really respect him." Clementine said.

"It's not that… I just have sympathy for the man…" Bonnie said as Keith dropped his magazine.

"Sympathy is not exactly the right words." Keith said with a slightly angry tone. "He killed my mom, Derrick, and Walter. Plus he had hand in Pete's death. The way I see it, he has brought all of the pressure of running this community upon himself."

"That's rather cold, Keith." Bonnie criticized.

"I only call it as I see it." Keith stated bluntly.

"He's still your dad-" Bonnie said.

"You don't think I know that!" Keith snapped. "Everything he does, everyone he kills! That's all on me just as much as it's on him!" Keith sighed as he tried to calm down. "And just like I said back at the lodge, I still love him because he is my dad. I'm sad that he has become this psychopath, and I'm disappointed that he has killed so many people just for his own means."

Bonnie looked to Keith sadly and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to suggest…" She stopped herself and looked back to Clementine. "Luke had ideas about how things should go, but they didn't line up with what Bill was thinking… then Rebecca started showing signs, and that only made things worse." Bonnie sighed as she considered everything that was said and continued, "Maybe Luke was right about him… I wish he was around, but… I just hope he's safe."

Suddenly, Bonnie's hand-held radio came on and Tavia's voice came over it. "Hey Bonnie, is that girl and Keith down there with you. I need to come get them."

Bonnie pressed the button and said, "Yeah, they're here."

"Okay, I'll come right over." Tavia said.

Clementine looked to be distressed by the fact that Tavia mentioned her and Keith by request. Bonnie noticed this and said, "I'm sure it's fine." Bonnie then reached over and grabbed the magazines from the two and said, "Oh, I almost forgot. I grabbed this for ya." Bonnie then got up and retrieved a light blue winter coat and handed it to Clementine.

She looked back with a grin and as Clementine placed the coat on and asked, "Huh? What do you think? I found it at the ski lodge that y'all were at."

Clementine zipped the coat up and smiled, "It's cool. I like it." Clementine replied.

"Well I'm glad. I thought it looked cute, but I didn't know what you'd think." Bonnie said.

"You look cool, Clem." Keith said.

"Thanks Keith." Clementine said.

"Oh there you are." Tavia said as she entered the door. "What's with the ugly jacket?"

"Tavia…" Bonnie said angrily.

"What?" Tavia snapped.

"Never mind, I'll see you two later." Bonnie said to Clementine and Keith.

"Come on." Tavia said. Clementine and Keith followed Tavia as Clementine now looked down at her jacket questioningly.

"Ignore Tavia." Keith whispered. "You look awesome in that jacket."

"Thanks." Clementine said happily. Keith smiled back as Tavia escorted them to the roof of Howe's Hardware.

…**To be continued.**

**A/N: I'm going to say this right now, so I don't get flak. I am NOT for or against Kenny. To me, Kenny has several flaws, but when you really need him, he can be a really good ally. So, don't give me flak for being anti-Kenny, because I'm not. I can usually go both ways with Kenny. On a different note, look at how much Nick is growing up… Pete would be so proud. I'd say Nick does a good job of being a father figure in this chapter for Clementine, since Luke is off at who knows where.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**The Walking Dead**_**. All rights reserved to their respective owners.**

Keith and Clementine followed Tavia to the roof. She opened the door to the roof as she barked, "Follow me. Come on."

Clementine and Keith followed her both looking questioningly at each other. They both walked to a greenhouse which was located on top of the building. Tavia opened the door for the two children to which they entered the greenhouse. "Stay in here for a minute, I'm going to radio down and find out what you two are doing. Don't touch anything." Tavia said followed by her closing the door.

"Well, she's just delightful." Clementine said sarcastically.

"Yeah, she's quite the grouch, isn't she?" Keith asked. "I don't know. I think working with Troy would be better than her."

Suddenly both could hear whimpering in the greenhouse and turned around to see Sarah in the corner. "Hey…" Clementine said as she approached Sarah. "…You want a hug?"

Sarah merely sat in the same position, hugging her knees and looking down distantly. "Well okay." Clementine said. "I owe you one for later then. You might not know when it's coming though… but I could sneak up on you when you're least expecting it."

Keith chuckled at Clementine's cuteness and he crouched down in front of Sarah and said, "I know it's hard to move on from something like that, but look at the bright side, your dad was at least sympathetic for hitting you. Mine hasn't been sympathetic for almost three years now."

"My dad has never hit me before." Sarah said. "Even when I was really bad… he never hit me."

"He didn't want to hit you, Sarah." Clementine said. "Carver's the bad guy in all of this, not your dad. So in a weird way, Carver is the one who hit you, not your dad."

"Yeah… well Carver hit me super hard, because it still hurts like crazy." Sarah said as she caressed her sore cheek.

"Yeah, it looked like it." Keith said.

Sarah then looked up to Clementine and asked, "Are you okay from last night?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Sarah. It just shocked me that Kenny would hurt me." Clementine said sadly.

"I think someone else needs a hug other than Sarah." Keith said.

Clementine looked to Keith, unsure of accepting his offer or not until Sarah said, "Thanks… for trying to help… I just don't understand why people have to be so mean… Even when I'm really mad, I still don't want to hurt anyone."

Keith got up and the two stared at Sarah with sympathetic eyes. They both knew that she wasn't made for this world and she would constantly need to rely on someone, otherwise she wouldn't survive. Suddenly the door opened up with Reggie entering the greenhouse. "Don't mess this up!" Tavia hissed.

"Yeah, I get it." Reggie replied.

Keith shook his head towards Tavia's bitterness as Tavia turned to the three children. "Reggie is in charge here, okay? Listen to him carefully."

Sarah got up and joined Clementine and Keith as Reggie said, "Yup, no problem, Tavia." Tavia then closed the door and left.

"Okay, we got to do a good job, guys." Reggie explained. "The camp is counting on us. Come on, I'll show you what to do." Clementine and Keith followed Reggie with Sarah lagging behind. They approached a table and Reggie continued, "It's super easy. Pick up those shears." Clementine and Keith did as Reggie instructed but Sarah was still in shock from being hit and was only half listening. She eventually followed their lead and picked up her shear.

"Okay so we're picking these berries, right?" Reggie continued. "Just pick them and put them in the basket. Simple." Clementine looked over to Sarah worriedly as Reggie explained, "While you're at it if you see any dead branches, take those shears and cut them off and stack them neatly for compost. Got it?"

Keith and Clementine nodded and they walked over to one of the tables. However, Reggie now noticed that Sarah wasn't in very good condition and he followed the two children. Clementine looked over one of the plants ready to start as Reggie walked over and asked, "Hey, so… is she going to be alright?" Reggie asked.

Both Clementine and Keith looked over to Sarah who only looked down to her shear. "I don't know. I'm a bit worried about her." Keith said. He then released an agitated groan and said, "My dad is just stupid. She wouldn't be this way, if he hadn't made Carlos hit her."

"Yeah, for once I agree." Reggie said. "That was f***** up down there. I just don't want her freaking out and getting me in trouble."

"I'll take care of her… you don't have to worry." Clementine said.

"Good… Good, because I'm awful at that stuff." Reggie said. "Look, Bill has had it out for me ever since I helped those guys escape, so I gotta concentrate on my work." Reggie smiled to the young girl and proceeded to pat her on top of the head. She sent a glare towards him which Reggie replied with slowly backing away from the two. "That was awkward. I won't do that again. I'm going back to work." He then left the two children and went to work on one of the plants.

Keith chuckled and said, "Sorry about Reggie. He's a good guy, but he's terrible with kids."

Clementine nodded and she looked over to Sarah who was still unsure of what to do. "I need to go help her."

"Okay." Keith said. "I'll stay over here."

Clementine then walked over and said, "Hey…" Sarah looked up to Clementine and Clementine proceeded to cut off a dead branch, while Keith went through very quickly cutting off any dead branches on the first plant. He then proceeded with the second as Clementine continued to show Sarah how to cut off the branches.

Eventually, Sarah joined in as Keith finished the first set of plants. "That's it." Clementine said. "You got it."

"I know." Sarah said sadly. "I'm just afraid that I'll make a mistake."

"It won't be the end of the world if you do." Clementine said.

Keith quickly grabbed the next plant but in his haste he quickly took off a healthy branch. "Shoot!" Keith exclaimed.

"What? What's wrong?" Clementine asked.

"I accidentally cut off a good branch." Keith explained.

Suddenly the door to the warehouse opened and Carver started to walk towards the greenhouse. "Oh shit!" Reggie hissed.

"Oh no." Sarah and Clementine said simultaneously.

Reggie quickly inspected the area and looked on horrified to see that Keith's work wasn't touched, in fact one plant was ruined because he accidentally took off a healthy branch. "You didn't do any of your work, Keith!"

"Wait, isn't that my work?" Clementine asked.

"No, I did your work first." Keith replied.

Suddenly the door opened and Carver analyzed the greenhouse. Sarah gasped upon seeing him but Carver said, "Just checking in… wanted to see how the new recruits are working out." Carver looked over and was impressed to see that Sarah's work was completed, but then he growled upon seeing Clementine's finished and Keith's work was not. "Reggie." Carver hissed.

"Yeah, Bill, what's up?" Reggie asked somewhat frightened.

"What the f*** happened in here?" Carver inquired.

"Look, Bill, they're new and me with my arm, it's just not as eas-I just hav-I have one arm so-" Reggie stuttered trying to explain the situation.

"Shut up, shut up." Carver snapped. "Shut the f*** up." Reggie looked down sadly and frightened by the older man as he continued, "You better have a good explanation for this. And I mean now."

"Bill please just-" Reggie tried to defend himself.

"Sounds like you were about to give me an excuse when I asked for an explanation." Carver said.

"It's my fault, dad." Keith said. "It was my work and I didn't complete it. So it's me who should be blamed for this."

Carver shook his head and said, "Oh no. This ain't your fault." He then turned to Reggie and said, "We talked about this Reggie. Didn't we? But you don't get it, do you?

"Get what? I…I…" Reggie trailed off as horror filled his eyes.

"Girls, Keith Blake, why don't you go outside. Reggie and I need to have a little talk." Carver said

Keith, Clementine, and Sarah did as they were told as Reggie said, "Thanks for the help guys."

Keith and Clementine walked from the greenhouse and looked at each other as Carver could be heard yelling at Reggie in the greenhouse. They then noticed Sarah walking towards the edge of the roof. "What's wrong, Sarah?" Clementine asked. Sarah didn't respond and looked to the horizon. Clementine then approached Sarah and asked, "Are you okay?"

The argument in the greenhouse seemed to escalate and Keith turned around upon hearing his father's booming, angry voice. "Guys?" Keith said.

Suddenly the door slammed open with Reggie stumbling out as Carver approached him angrily. Sarah and Clementine watched on in horror as Carver approached Reggie angrily and yelled, "I gave you plenty of chances!"

"NO! NO! NO!" Reggie pleaded with Carver as he backed Reggie to the edge of the roof. "Bill, please no!" Suddenly, Carver grabbed Reggie by his shirt collar and smirked evilly to the man as he pleaded. "NO! NO! PLEASE!" Reggie exclaimed.

"DAD, NO!" Keith exclaimed as he tried to stop him, but Keith was too late as Carver pushed Reggie over the edge. Reggie screamed in horror until he landed on the ground, with his skull cracking open. Keith backed away from the edge as both Clementine and Sarah looked to Carver in horror.

"Weakness… incompetence… it puts us all at risk, and it won't be tolerated." Carver explained to the three children. "You think about that, the next time that you are asked to do something." Carver then looked to Sarah as she huffed in horror of the murder that she just witnessed. Both Clementine and Keith looked to her worriedly as Carver hissed, "Get downstairs… Bonnie will have things for you to do." Clementine and Keith hesitated to which Carver bellowed, "Go!"

Clementine headed for the stairs, but Keith remained where he stood and he asked, "Are you going to hurt Sarah as soon as I leave?" Keith even shot a glare at his dad.

The man glared back and stared him down "You have your assignment, Keith Blake." Carver growled.

"Answer my question." Keith growled back.

Carver was surprised by the boy's assertiveness and smirked. "You surprise me." Carver said. "The old Keith Blake would lower his head and do what he was told, but you're different."

"I'm not that scared little boy that you used to beat on at the beginning of the apocalypse." Keith informed his father.

His father's smirk grew and said, "If only you could focus on more important things than the safety of that broken girl over there, you would make a good leader. You see Keith Blake, you and I are very much the same. We are strong and people like her are weak. It's up to people like us to guide them to safety."

"I'm not like you." Keith said.

Carver looked to Keith with a frown and said, "Disappointingly, you're not. But in time, you will become like me."

Keith shook his head and he asked, "Are you going to hurt Sarah?"

"No." Carver replied. "I still have some use for her. Now go and talk to Bonnie." He then left Keith and went to talk to the frightened teen.

Keith went to the door to the warehouse which Clementine waited for him. "What's going on?" Clementine asked.

"It's nothing. Let's go talk to Bonnie." Keith said. "We need to tell her what happened to Reggie." Clementine nodded and the two ran off to find Bonnie.

* * *

><p>Finally the two spotted Bonnie as she loaded some nails and screws in a couple of buckets. They both walked up to her with horrified expressions and she said, "Oh hey. So they want you two to run some supplies out to the guys working on the expansion." She approached the two with the buckets of supplies and continued, "Real simple. Just take this over to em."<p>

Clementine looked down sadly still recalling Reggie's death. She was also frightened, but both emotions were misread by Bonnie. She figured that Clementine was sad about the jacket being ugly. "That jacket looks real nice. I don't know what Tavia's talking about…" Clementine continued to look down sadly. Bonnie realized that the girl was not sad over the jacket and asked, "What's wrong? Clem? You alright?" Bonnie then looked over to Keith who was still shocked by what happened back on the roof. "You both look like you've seen a ghost."

"Bonnie." Keith said. Bonnie looked to Keith as he sighed and said, "My dad killed Reggie."

"What…" Bonnie asked. "Maybe… maybe it was just an accident."

"No, we both saw it." Clementine said.

"Bonnie, I swear, I would never lie about something like this." Keith added. Panic was easily traced in their voices.

Bonnie looked around and then squatted down in front of them and said, "Listen to me. Take this stuff out to those guys and come straight back. Just be safe. Now ain't the time to be callin attention to yourselves."

"Too late for that." Keith said.

Bonnie raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why?"

"Dad and I had a little conversation before I got here." Keith explained. "It was the only thing I could think of to keep him from hurting Sarah."

"Dammit!" Bonnie said and she looked off distantly as she tried to think of a plan. "Okay, just go ahead and take that stuff out there. I'm going to go find out what happened." The two children nodded as Bonnie got back up and went to the door to the emergency exit which acted as the door to the expansion.

Bonnie opened the door for Clementine and Keith and yelled, "Hey Troy. Clem and Keith are going to take some nails to those boys."

"Alright!" Troy hissed.

"Go on." Bonnie said and she closed the door.

Keith and Clementine looked to the body of Reggie with Keith being regretful. "If I could have only acted quickly enough… now that blood is on my hands." Keith said.

"No it's not." Clementine said. "You tried to save him."

"Hey!" Troy bellowed. "That ain't your concern! Get that stuff over to them boys! Just follow them cables!"

Clementine and Keith looked down to the cables and started walking. "Like I said before, every person that my dad kills, that's on me just as much as it's on him."

"It's not Keith." Clementine said. "You're a kind and wonderful person towards people. What your dad does is not your fault."

"I can't help but feel responsible, though-" Keith said but he was interrupted when Clementine kissed his cheek.

He blushed and smiled at the girl who said, "Now I want you to stop beating yourself up."

"Yes ma'am." Keith said with a wide grin. However Troy looked down to the two disgusted by what he saw.

The moment between the two children was interrupted when they both heard growling from the other side of the fence. The fence groaned but seemed sturdy enough to hold the walkers back. Clementine and Keith continued to walk until they reached the expansion and opened the door. The expansion was filled with tools and equipment like plywood, lights, hammers, and pallets.

"I ain't nobody's laborer." Kenny hissed as he pushed Mike into the wall and placed his arm against Mike's throat making it difficult to breathe. "F*** that! Let them do this shit themselves, if it's so damn important."

Clementine and Keith dropped their supplies and ran to the two hoping to calm the situation. "Get your freaking hands off me!" Mike snapped.

"You ain't going to force me to do bullshit." Kenny hissed.

"I said get your hands off me." Mike choked.

"Or what?" Kenny inquired. "Are you going to tell on me?"

"I'm trying to help you asshole." Mike replied.

"Guys enough." Keith pleaded.

"Reggie's dead!" Clementine exclaimed. "Carver killed him!"

"What?" Kenny asked surprised to see the two children and even more surprised by the fact that the man he had just greeted last night was dead. Kenny released his grip on Mike and the man huffed. However, they didn't notice the loose wooden board which was the only barrier between them and the walkers. Kenny looked to Clementine sadly and said, "Look, Clem, about last night… I'm sorry. I ain't your dad and I have no right to tell you whom you can or can't date."

"I'm sorry too, Kenny." Clementine said. "I shouldn't have yelled at you like that."

Kenny squatted down to Clementine's level and said, "Darlin, you had every right to yell at me. You have nothin to apologize for. I was being a complete ass last night." Kenny looked over to Keith and said, "Keith, I'm sorry that I've been on you like I have. I guess I'm not ready to see Clem grow up." Kenny then began to smile and he looked back to Clementine. "Heck, I still remember Clem when she was just a small little eight year old." Clementine rolled her eyes as Kenny got back up.

"Whoa… hold up." Mike said as he finally was able to speak. "Are you sure about Carver killing-" Suddenly the window shattered and the bottom board fell loose under the walkers' weight. The walkers growled as they entered the expansion, looking around easily identifying the four people as food. "Shit!" Mike exclaimed as he ran off to grab a screwdriver.

"Grab something!" Kenny exclaimed as he looked for a weapon as well.

The walkers started to pour in with each person having to kill two, except for Clementine who was left with one. Keith quickly used his hand to hand combat to try and knock his two walkers off balance. He did a hard kick to one of the walker's legs. However, he was forced back by the other walker as it made a grab for him.

Clementine, on the other hand, was pushed back to the back wall by her walker. She tried to stun it with a wooden plank but to no avail.

Keith pondered on another course of action as he was pushed further and further towards the wall which had a steel pallet laying on its side in front of the wall. He finally had an idea but it would be risky. Thankfully, the idea came to mind just in time as Keith's back was against the wall. He laid on the ground and kicked the wall to propel himself past the walker between its legs. The other walker lagged with a limp which meant that Keith could focus his energy on the walker that wasn't limping. He then used his leg to kick the walker in an angle and it slammed into the steel pallet. The walker then fell on the ground with the steel pallet falling on top of it, crushing its skull.

His victory was short lived as the other walker limped towards him he quickly dived away from the walker. He then eyed a hammer with some of the supplies that he and Clementine were taking to Kenny and Mike. He grabbed the hammer and used the blunt end to force the walker to the ground. He followed this by using the spike to crush the walker's skull. It resulted in him bashing the walker's skull four times until it stopped moving.

* * *

><p>Clementine quickly saw her opening through a shelving unit and started to squirm away from the walker. She huffed as she kept trying to get distance between her and the walker. However the walker was only gaining on her. However, she was forced to stop upon seeing the attachment joint for the unit. She pushed the shelving as the walker got closer. Finally, she weaved out of the back part of the shelving which fell back and crushed the walker's skull.<p>

Clementine's victory was short lived. Now three other walkers were heading towards her. She quickly eyed a nearby ladder and tilted it to drop on top of the first walker to subdue it. But now the other two walkers were heading for her. She ran into the back room, but in her haste she tripped on the wiring to the construction light. She desperately tried to free herself from the wiring but to no avail. Meanwhile, the second walker was getting closer. Clementine then eyed a screwdriver and snatched it up. The walker dived for her mindless and in its haste impaled itself with the screwdriver. Unfortunately Clementine still had another walker to deal with and it jumped on top of the dead walker in an attempt to grab her. She kept it away at arm's length but she couldn't keep the walker away for long.

Just as Clementine's strength started to fail, the walker was yanked off of her and with a grunt and slammed into a wall. The person who pushed the walker off of her, Keith, proceeded to hammer the walker's skull in, even past the point of death. He grunted angrily as he kept swinging the hammer into the unrecognizable skull of the walker. Clementine had pushed the dead walker off at this point and approached Keith as he huffed exhaustedly, swinging the hammer one more time into the walkers skull. He dropped the hammer and huffed as Clementine approached him.

"Hey." Clementine said as she approached the boy and placing a supportive hand on his shoulder. "I'm okay."

Keith turned around and quickly hugged her. He huffed as he did so, trying to relax while catching his breath. He then held her back by her shoulders and said, "I'm glad… you're okay." She smiled to him, thankful that he had saved her life.

"F****** disgusting!" They both heard and looked over to see Troy standing in the door way. "You two make me want to throw up."

"Well you didn't have to watch, moron." Keith replied.

"F*** you!" Troy hissed. "Come on get out of there. F****** sickos."

Clementine and Keith obliged as Troy glared at the two with a disgusted look. They exited the back door with Clementine still feeling shaky from the close to death experience. She even whimpered slightly until Keith held her hand and whispered, "Sh… everything is alright."

Clementine nodded, however she was still frightened by the close-to-death encounter. She hasn't come that close to death in a long time.

"Oh my word!" Kenny exclaimed happily to see the young girl alive. "You're okay!"

"Okay, enough mushy shit." Troy bellowed. "You two get back inside right f****** now and if I ever see you two hugging each other again, I will f****** end you both. You think I'm f****** around? GO! NOW!" Keith and Clementine walked to the door as Troy turned to Kenny and Mike. "Now I got to sit down here and babysit your assholes. Can't do a simple f****** patch job without me cracking the whip?"

Clementine and Keith exited the expansion and headed back towards Howe's. The walkers banged on the outside wall in a useless attempt to get in. "Are you sure you want Troy to watch us instead of Tavia?" Clementine asked.

"I stand corrected." Keith said. "Still, I don't why he has come to not like you. I know he hates me because I gave him the slip a few months back."

"I don't know, maybe he ju-" Suddenly Clementine was grabbed from behind and dragged into a comic bookstore.

Keith jumped upon seeing Clementine getting nabbed and ran into the comic bookstore to see Luke. He was trying to keep Clementine quiet as she tried to free herself from his grip. Keith ran up to Clementine and said, "Clem, Clem, it's okay. Calm down, it's just Luke. It's Luke." Clementine relaxed and Luke released his grip.

"I came all this way and this is the welcome I get." Luke said teasingly. Clementine smiled to him and hugged the young man.

He hugged back with a smile and the two separated. "I was worried. We all were."

"Aw, it's good to see you too kid." Luke said. He then frowned and said, "Alright, listen I don't have much time, okay? Followed y'all here as best as I could. Haven't had night's rest since y'all got nabbed and… well this's first chance I got to talk to somebody." Luke's speech started to pick up speed and slurred slightly in his haste. "They're everywhere, okay? They got guards. Watchin everything. Sh, sh-sh." Luke shushed the two as a pair of footsteps could be heard outside.

They passed as Luke got up and continued, "There is a herd of lurkers just south of us. It's bigger than I ever seen around these parts." Luke walked to the door and looked out the door to check to see if there were any guards outside.

"Dad mentioned that on the PA." Keith said. "He's hoping they'll pass on by, but if you ask me, that's not going to be the case."

"Yeah you're right." Luke said as he closed the door and looked back to the two children. "That herd is going to slam right into this place… now I don't know when, but it's coming and it's going to be soon. You see, I have been looking for places to… to get y'all free… but I haven't been able to find anything."

"Are you feeling alright?" Clementine asked.

"No….no… I mean yes. Yeah, sorry. I-I could just use some sleep you know? Hard to rest when you think a lurker is about get the jump you any minute. But yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me." Luke replied.

"Climb up a tree next time." Keith suggested. "You'll wake up with a sore back but it'll be worth it to get some sleep."

This whole thing seems dangerous." Clementine said.

"Yeah well, this whole situation is dangerous." Luke said as he started to walk away from the door. "We just… we just need a plan… y'know a way to get you and… and everyone…" Luke trailed off as he contemplated.

Meanwhile, Clementine and Keith could hear footsteps from outside and looked to the door worriedly, fearing that someone would burst through the door any minute and find them with Luke. "Luke…" Keith and Clementine said simultaneously to get his attention.

"Sorry, sorry." Luke said as he tried to refocus. "Shit… okay. Troy ain't going to like you two being late." Luke then approached Clementine and said, "Listen, Clem, I need you to meet me here at around this time tomorrow because I need you to get me one of those radios, okay? Do you think you can do that? Just one of those walkie-talkies. I just need to be able to tell y'all what's going on with them guards. I'll figure out the schedule their patrols are on. I mean they're-they're all over the place, but I can keep an eye on them for y'all out here."

"O-Okay, I'll get you one." Clementine said.

"Thanks Clem, I'm glad that I can count on you." Luke said happily.

Meanwhile, Keith kept an eye on the door and said, "Guys, we may need to wrap this up."

"Right, sorry, sorry." Luke said. He then looked to Clementine and continued, "Remember, you meet me here tomorrow. I'll try to be around here at this time, but if I ain't… just wait for me as long as you can, because I really need one of those radios. Just let everybody know that I'm alright."

"Clementine! Keith!" Troy could be heard. "Get out where I can see you couple of jackasses."

"Clem, we got to go." Keith said He then looked to Luke and said, "Luke, make yourself scarce before my dad or any of the guards find you."

"Right, sorry." Luke said. "Go on. Get out of here." Clementine and Keith and they headed for the door as Luke exited the building through a small escape route.

Clementine and Keith exited the door, only to hear Troy ask, "The hell were you two doing? Huh? I will beat the shit out of you if you don't tell me right now." He approached the two with his assault rifle in a threatening manner.

"We were just looking through some comics." Keith replied.

"Yeah, well you shouldn't be dawdling. The next time I see either one of you doing shit that doesn't help us, I will shoot you." Troy barked. "Bill radioed. Wants a word with both of you in his office. Well go! Get to his office! NOW!"

The two children ran off towards Carver's office as Troy smirked aiming his sights on them, imagining to shoot them both.

* * *

><p>Clementine and Keith were nearing Carver's office and they both could see Carver talking to a distraught Rebecca. They both looked up worriedly and continued to walk towards Carver's office.<p>

A stocky man wearing glasses looked to the two with a smile aimed towards Keith. "Hello Keith and Keith's girlfriend." The stocky man said.

"Hey Wy." Keith said happy to see the man. Keith then looked to Clementine and said, "Clem, this is Wyatt. He was part of Bonnie's group."

"Hi, nice to meet you." Clementine greeted Wyatt.

Wyatt smiled to her but then frowned and looked to Keith. "Dude, your dad, is pissed. You'd better go see him."

Keith nodded and the two walked toward the stairs, passing by a couple of check-out stations. They reached the stairs and started to walk up the steps. They both felt worried as they climbed the stairs to the top…

…**To be continued**

**A/N: Yeah allow me to say that I ****REALLY**** hate Troy. Owen Thomas, you were absolutely amazing as Omid. I miss that character so freaking much, but… why did you play as Troy?**


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